Gibbs Girl
by Doctor and Bad Wolf
Summary: What does Gibbs have in his pocket? Why is it such a secret? How will this year go or change with Mann continuing her ploy to get Gibbs? This is the third story in Alice's story books. I don't own anything but for Alice and the people and story's around her. Smut. Any chapters marked with () has smut. Slow to update, Gibbs/OC Gibbs/OFC Tibbs Gibbs romance. Enjoy.
1. Bury your dead

Ziva and I step out of the elevator together at NCIS, and she almost walks into McGee. I am wearing sunglasses inside because I am hungover. Why do all my female friends not seem to get hung over, but I do?

"What're you doing here?" Ziva and McGee demand of each other.

"I asked first," Ziva adds.

"Well, technically, Ziva, I think that if we were to put that to a test, you'd find that it was too close to call. But since my parents raised a gentleman, and yours raised a killer, I was defragging my computer," McGee defends himself.

"Liar," Ziva hisses as we walk into the squad room together. Only for Ziva to asks McGee, "Have you heard from Tony?"

"You came into the office on a Saturday morning because you're worried about Tony?" McGee asks as I clock the food and coffee on McGee and Gibbs' desk indicating that they worked all night.

"You've been here all night?" I ask while Ziva states it while throwing her hands up at the food and walking behind her desk.

"Is that a question or a statement?"

"Question," I snap at him, he's annoying me, and I'm hang over. I walk over to my desk and remove my bag that I am carrying.

"Why did you come in? Looking for Tony too?"

"No… Looking for my wayward boyfriend, he's not in the basement. So, I have to check here, and then I'm going to Mexico if he's not here… and I don't want to go to Mexico, I owe Mike a beer. HAVE you and Jethro been here all night?" I snap at him.

"It sounded more like a statement."

"Demands an answer," Ziva hisses at him.

"Yes, I've been here all night."

"Fragging the computer."

"'Defragging'. You need to work your inflections when you're asking a question. For example, why are you worried about Tony?"

"Well, he was supposed to meet us at the bar last night, he didn't not arrive, did not call. He's not answering his home phone or his cell phone. Do you have the number of his second phone?" Ziva explains while moving closure to McGee.

"The one he uses for his private calls?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Jethro was here all night too," I snap as I walk over and clean up his desk. Why didn't he call Ziva and me in?

"Are we a team, McGee?" Ziva demands while getting into McGee's face, asking the same question I am thinking. Why are people keeping secret?

"Morning Ziva. Alice," Gibbs greets us he walks into the squad room making me throw him a look before ignoring him. He continues while walking past me, so he is behind his desk looking at a mystery file, "Nothing better to do on a Saturday morning?" he is wearing a white shirt under a black shirt under a black jacket making him look hot and like an evil boss.

"Teams do not have secrets Gibbs. And if you do to tell me what you were both doing here last night, McGee knows he will," Ziva says while moving closure to Gibbs desk, threatening Gibbs before turning around and smiling at McGee before adding, "eventually."

"Or we could just read the file," I remind her while lunging for the mystery file, but Gibbs picks it above his head, so I can't reach it.

...

"Why would the CIA come after the director?" Ziva asks Gibbs once he informs us what they found last night while wrapping and arm around me.

"You tell me," Gibbs orders her.

"Protecting their asset."

"La Grenouille," McGee finish.

"Does the madam director know?" I ask Gibbs while snuggling into his side, he might have lied but he is telling us the truth now.

"Know what?" Shepard asks while walking into the room from the lab way.

"That it's Saturday, and we are all here on our day off, because we love our jobs," McGee lies.

"Except for Tony who is missing," Ziva adds.

"McGee, I want you to triangulate a cell number: 202-555-0177," Shepard orders McGee making him move over to his desk to find the missing cell.

"DiNozzo in trouble?" Gibbs asks while releasing me and walking over to look over McGee's shoulder.

"I know it," Ziva comments softly. Making me step so I am beside her and throw my arm around her shoulder in silent support for a friend-ish person.

"The woman Tony has been seeing, Jeanne Benoit, is La Grenouille's daughter," Shepard explains making us all freeze. Here we go again, why does she keep doing this? She better not get Tony killed like she did her witness.

"He been on assignment?" McGee asks her in surprise being the first to be able to talk again. Making Gibbs get up and walk so that he is right in front of Shepard.

"You did plan to tell us at some point?" Gibbs demands of her.

"If it led us to her father, yes," Shepard defends herself.

"Yeah, did it?" I demand of her with a glare.

"I don't know."

"You wanna tell us what you do know director?" Gibbs hisses angrily at her.

"Tony just contacted me using his alias's cell. It was a prearranged signal using only in emergency if he thought his cover had been blown."

"Triangulating," McGee informs us while putting it up on the plasma above my desk. I am stand between Gibbs and Ziva, holding onto Ziva while grabbing Gibbs hand with my other hand.

'Anthony D. DiNardo,' is what the phone is registered to.

"Tony DiNardo, cute," Ziva comments.

"I want this fed to MTAC and I want satellite coverage," Shepard orders us before storming out of the squad room.

"On its way," McGee promise while moving back to his desk to do it.

"Guess we're not going home… who wants coffee?" I ask everyone while releasing Ziva and Gibbs to get my wallet.

"Me," McGee and Ziva says together making me node before walking off.

...

"He's on 22nd street northwest outside Monroe University hospital," McGee informs us as he walks into MTAC where there is a map view of his location. I am sitting next and holding the hand of an annoyed Gibbs because he was kept out of the loop on his own agents.

"He's on the move," Shepard states.

"He must be in a car."

"How long until we get satellite coverage?"

"At least 15 minutes," McGee answers making Gibbs roll his eye and stand up, pulling me along behind him. McGee adds as we get closure, "Or we could patch into D.C.'s traffic-cam system. See if we can locate him on the traffic-cam management."

"Do it," Gibbs orders him before walking back to his chair and sitting down.

"Anything?" Shepard asks Ziva who is trying to ring Tony again.

"Still not answering. Shall I try his undercover cell phone?" Ziva asks us.

"Put it on speaker," Shepard orders her making Ziva do that.

"Hi, you've reached Professor Tony DiNardo. Leave a message and I will get back to you. I promise," Tony's voice comes from the answering service over the top of 20th century fox music.

"He's cover is teaching film online at American University," Shepard informs us making me laugh and whisper to Gibbs beside me.

"Finally. He's never ending movie references were coming in useful," I whisper into Gibbs ear, using his shoulder to steady me while I lean up to whisper it.

"No wonder he's been compromised. Whose bright idea was that?" McGee asks when Ziva softly makes a comment.

"Mine," Shepard hisses.

"It was really stupid… Tony's idea of teaching; is to annoy you until you do it right… or Jethro hits him," I state loudly making her turn her glare from McGee to me, but I just wave back at her.

"We're in," McGee informs us.

"Bring it up," Shepard orders him making him put the road cameras on the plasma.

"Got it. Overlaying the cell-phone signal," McGee informs us while putting a big red diamond over Tony's car.

"Tony's car," Ziva comments as McGee pulls up the license plate and runs it. Only to get a different name making him correct Ziva.

"Tony DiNardo's car."

"How deep is his cover?" Gibbs asks her from his seat beside me.

"Deep enough to withstand the sort of scrutiny La Grenouille can bring to bear," Shepard inform him.

"You better hope so. Because whatever happens to Tony because of you, I do to you," I promise her, making Gibbs bring my hand up and place a kiss, a sign he has developed to tell me to calm down.

"West on M Street," McGee informs us while tracking the car.

"No one else in the car with him," Shepard releases as she tries to ring him again.

"He's turning north onto 29th street."

"Traffic speed. No sign of duress," Ziva comments.

"His cell phone is still off," Shepard complains as she puts her mobile back into her pocket.

"No one seems to be tailing him."

"Maybe he's the one doing the tailing," Gibbs offers as he gets up and walks closure to the plasma at the front of MTAC.

"Still on 29th," McGee informs us when the camera changes. I am standing next to Gibbs watching Tony's car, only for it to explode.

"Tony," I scream as Ziva gasps. I fall to my knees trying not to sob, he… he's… he…

"Oh my god," Shepard says.

"Tony," Ziva whispers. I think it's safe to say we're all in shock.

...

We arrive at the site of Tony's car 'death' and get out of the car. The whole trip here, no one spoke. We are all wearing our NCIS jackets and badges, and silently walk towards what is left of the car. Pulling on latex gloves, getting ready to kill the man who killed Tony. The fireman has put the fire out that was coursed by the explosion and there is almost nothing left of Tony's car. I start at the burnt body in the driver's seat, he didn't even have time to take his hand off of the wheel.

"McGee," Gibbs calls to him but he's in too much shock making Gibbs yell, "McGee." When McGee looks over, he flicks his head, making McGee walk over to the car. McGee grabs his camera and begins to take photos of the crime scene while I grab my sketch book back begin drawing. Shepard is walking around, looking at what she coursed.

"Hey," Shepard calls out making McGee and I walk over to her to see what she found. She points to what she found, a round object and informs us, "That some kind of timer device?"

"Ten bucks in most electrical stores. Probably activated when the ignition turned on," McGee explains while photographing it. I stand up and continue to draw where everything is while Ziva begins taking photos of the car. McGee continues to talk in the background, "Count down however long you need it to. When it reached zero…" Shepard gets up and walks away from McGee while Ducky examines Tony's body.

"Shock wave would have killed him before the fire. Death would have been instantaneous. Small mercies, my dear boy," Ducky informs us.

"Identification?" Shepard demands making me resist shooting her, she got Tony killed. When she's hunting the frog, she seems to like getting innocent people involved and dead.

"The general build, height, weight are about right. Most of the epidermis and dermis on the hands and fingers have been burned off, so no fingerprints. We need to get his dental records for positive identification. And is there any chance that it's not Tony?" Ducky asks Shepard after looking at the body.

"None that I can think of," Shepard answers him before walking off.

"She blames herself," Ducky release as Gibbs watches her go and nodes in confirmation. Making Duck ask another question, "Shoe she?"

"Let me know when you finish, Duck," Gibbs states instead of answering but we all know the answer. 'Yes' she should and will be for a long time. She stone walled us with Ari but this time she might have as well killed Tony herself. Gibbs turns and walks away as Ducky turns back to the car where Tony's gun and badge is.

"You believe in miracles, Ziva?" McGee asks.

"Not part of my training," Ziva answers him as she photographs the gun and badge and I measure and mark how far from Tony.

"Alice?"

"Not anymore… I used to, but not in a couple of years," I answer him as I attempt to not cry at this crime scene. We need to be strong and do this right for Tony so that we can kill his killer.

"That might not be Tony," McGee offers but Ziva hands him the badge and ID she picked up. Tony's NCIS ID and his face is still visible, driving the point home. Tony is dead too… first Kate, then Cassidy and now Tony, we can't do this again so soon.

...

"Tony is not dead Gibbs. Not until Ducky says it's him. Until then, he's just… he's not here. And I don't care what the evidence says. Even if everything here belongs to Tony, it's still not him until Ducky says that it's him. And don't try to tell me anything different, because I'm not gonna believe you," Abby rambles in the lab as she removes the evidence from the bomb site. I turn my body into Gibbs side, trying not to cry because it's Tony, and I can't lose my pranking buddy. Abby falls silent for a moment before begging, "Tell me it's not him Gibbs, Alice. Tell me it's not him." She hugs him as she begs.

"I wish I could Abby," Gibbs answers her while rubbing her back making her release him and go to her computer.

"I need to be alone right now with eh gang. I've got work to do," Abby exclaims while talking about her machines. Gibbs turns to leave only to see a bottle of scotch and glass on the work bench, making him release me and put on some gloves. He picks them up, holding them so we can see them.

"Abby how did these get here?" Gibbs demands while squinting at her, waiting for the answer.

"Director Shepard swore me to secrecy when she brought those in and asked me to run them for the prints, so I can't tell you."

"When other secrets you can't tell us?" I demand of her as Gibbs puts the glass and scotch down before taking his glove off and following me closure to Abby. When she hesitates I shout, "I AM SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE ON THIS TEAM KEEPING SECRETS FROM ONE AND OTHER BECAUSE OF THE MADAM DIRECTOR."

"No. It's just that one. Because when director Shepard said that there wasn't any AFIS match, and then tries to hide the results from me, she actually didn't swear me to secret, so that is not a secret."

"Who was the match?" Gibbs asks her.

"Her father."

"Her father has been dead for 12 years, Abby."

"No, not according to AFIS," Abby informs us while pulling up the match and continuing to talk, "That is a ten-point match, Gibbs. These are new prints. There's no way director Shepard's father is dead."

...

Gibbs pov

.

"Alice, baby, I want to have talk with our madam director," I say while stopping her from exiting the elevator.

"You don't want me to shoot her?" Alice asks me, and I know she is being completely serious.

"No, I am more afraid that you're going to bite her. I need a new coffee," I inform her making her node. I place a kiss on her lips before opening the door and stepping out of the elevator and walking up to Shepard's office.

...

"I buried my father Jethro. I know he's not coming back. But someone is going to great lengths trying to convince me he's alive," Shepard informs me in her office as she stares out the window behind her desk that I am leaning my hands on.

"We've got a polygraph on Monday," I inform her when she turns to face me.

"Routine."

"They're targeting someone."

"Me?"

"So, I've been told."

"I've never failed a polygraph. I'm not about to start."

"And if they ask about your father?"

"He's dead."

"Any doubt, any hesitation will raise a red flag."

"There is no doubt."

"I saw his fingerprints."

"My father's dead."

"Subject displayed emotional instability suggesting delusional belief her father isn't dead. Next question. We just put her on medical leave or we fire her? Operation lodestone, you know it?" I demand of her as I stand up straight.

"Should I?"

"Black-Op, focused on weapon control and arms proliferation.

"Not one of ours."

"CIA."

"My father's job at the pentagon was in a field of arms control. He was under investigation for accepting a bribe when he was killed."

"Coroner says he took his own life."

"He was murdered."

"Proof?"

"None, but I know who's responsible."

"The same guy you sent one of my agents after?"

"One of my agents. A deep undercover operation that I ran on a need-to-know basis," Shepard informs me showing just how delusional she has become about this case. I turn to leave but she calls after me, "And Jethro if you think I'm, obsessed with La Grenouille because of what's happened to my father, you're wrong."

"You may wanna skip this polygraph test Monday," I inform her as I leave.

...

Alice pov

.

"McGee, stop that. I already have Kate and Tony's deaths engraved into my mind, I don't need you to keep replacing the moment Shepard fucked up again," I snap at McGee in the squad room because he keeps replacing Tony's car exploding on the plasma above my desk while I sit at Gibbs, holding my head.

"Must you keep doing that?" Ziva also asks him at the same time.

"Just checking something Gibbs said. Tony wouldn't have carried it with him, you know. His shield and ID, not if he was undercover. And he would have stashed it in the car, maybe under the seat. Just because we found his ID doesn't mean it's Tony," McGee informs us.

"His car, his ID, his weapon, both of his cell phones, McGee?" Ziva asks him without looking away from Tony's desk as McGee sits on the edge of Gibbs desk, rewinding the video and watching it again. Ziva finally gets up and walks over to him. She asks him as she walks over, "What was it that Gibbs said that you thought needed checking?"

"He thought Tony might be tailing someone," McGee reminds us making me get up and watch with them.

"Stop it there," Ziva yells while pointing to the screen.

"There," I overlap Ziva.

"Take it back," Ziva orders McGee making him rewind the video again to see a limousine in front of Tony's car. Ziva continue, "IT's a limousine. It was on the previous camera. It's on every camera."

"He was following the limousine," McGee comments as he walks over to his desk.

"Where is Gibbs?"

...

"The limousine is leased to a shell company. The parent company is Euro-Freight," Ziva reports to the director and Gibbs with the information on the plasma between Tony and McGee's desk in the squad room. I am standing against Gibbs side, holding onto the back of his shirt, he has his left arm around me while his coffee is in his right. We are standing behind everyone, almost at Gibbs desk.

"Head office is in Luxembourg," McGee adds.

"The principal behind the company is Rene Benoit."

"Tony could have been following La Grenouille," McGee continues as Ducky enters the squad room.

"I'm sorry to differ Timothy but he wasn't," Ducky informs us as he walks around Gibbs, grabbing his left arm making us turn to face him before he continues, "Look, Tony contracted pneumonic plague, I'm sure everyone can remember."

"Before my time," Ziva reminds us.

"We almost died," I say.

"He almost died," McGee overlaps me.

"I still have problems with my lungs because of it… so does Tony, the cold gets into the lungs and you can't breathe," I explain to Ziva while producing my inhaler and shaking it at her.

"From severe pneumonia," Ducky adds before continuing to explain, "As a result, his lungs would have been extensively scarred. Unlike the almost pristine lung of the man currently in autopsy. The body on which I am performing an autopsy is not Tony's"

"Yes," I yell before leaning forward, away from Gibbs, pulling Ducky into a hug as everyone smiles but Shepard smiles in relief.

"IF it's not Tony, then who is it?" Shepard asks us.

"And where is DiNozzo?" Gibbs adds making us loose the smiles but not the relief we are feeling. I step back from Ducky into Gibbs' chest.

...

"I want to know everything about this company. Bank statements, telephone records, personnel," Shepard orders McGee who is working at his computer with Gibbs looking over his shoulder and I am sitting at Ziva's desk with her… she really does love our pranker.

"Hard drive's spinning up now," McGee informs her while working on getting the information.

"Everything Tim. If la Grenouille is in D.C. this could lead us to him."

"OR DiNozzo," Gibbs reminds her as he stands up and walks over to his desk.

"Well, obviously DiNozzo is our first priority."

"Well, obviously, madam director," I hiss at her in anger.

"Ziva, start with the hospital. Find out when DiNozzo left and with whom," Gibbs begins ordering her.

"And who was driving his car. Got it," Ziva finishes for him as the elevator binges.

"Director Shepard," Kort begins as he sweeps into the room making me blink, she's pissed him off again.

"Mr. Kort. An unannounced visit by the CIA usually means someone's in trouble. I trust it isn't you," Shepard taunts him like she didn't almost get one of her agents killed as we all watch him closely.

"Where is he?"

"Fornell? He only comes in when we don't need him," I inform Kort.

"It depends on who 'he' is," Shepard informs Kort while giving me a look.

"DiNozzo," Kort informs him making McGee rise from his chair.

"I honestly don't know," Shepard says and that's the first honest thing she's said the whole time I've know her. She continues, "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you until you explain to me why you're looking for him so urgently."

"La Grenouille flew to DC this morning. He didn't arrive at his save house," Kort explains as Gibbs stands up walked over to the rest of us, circling Kort. He continues to talk, "And his satellite phone has stopped transmitting."

"Mislaid your arms dealer? That's gonna be embarrassing," Gibbs comments.

"I don't know what NCIS is up to, but I want a private briefing in your office now."

"I'll decide what briefing you get and where you get it, Mr. Kort, and if we have a problem with that, why don't you have your director give me a call," Shepard says like a big man.

"You are jeopardizing one of the most important long-term covert operation the agency has ever conducted."

"Operation Lodestone," I state quite loudly to show that he doesn't scare us.

"You're not read in on Lodestone."

"Okay, so read us in," Gibbs orders him.

"Unless the CIA just believes in one-way traffic," Shepard adds.

"This is not going to end well for you," Kort threatens us but we're not afraid of this punk. He turns and walks towards the elevator with us following him.

"Special Agent DiNozzo's car was bombed this morning but I guess you know that when you planted the bomb," I accuses him.

"He wasn't in it," Kort promise us.

"Thanks for sharing," Shepard says.

"The agency has nothing to do with it."

"IS that when you mislaid your frog, in all that confusion?" Gibbs taunts him as the elevator opens, only for Tony to be standing there innocently. Why is he coming in on a Saturday? When he is supposed to be not dead.

"Hey, my car blew up this morning. Did you do that?" Tony says after laughing while pointing to Kort. Instead of answering Kort pins Tony to the elevator door that is still open, using his body as a door jam. We all grab our guns aiming it on Kort.

"Where did you go with la Grenouille?" Kort demands of Tony just looks at us making Kort look over. He releases Tony.

"Actually, he prefers Rene. Arms dealers get touchy about their code names," Tony says as we slowly lower our guns. He continues, "'The frog has a kind of slimy overtone to it. Maybe you should keep that in mind for next time. You could use it yourself."

"We will find him, DiNozzo," Kort informs him as he goes to steps into the elevator.

"You may wanna take the stairs. I had a little upset tummy this morning," Tony informs him but Kort enters the elevator anyway and Tony taunts him, "Happy frog-hunting." The elevator closure and Tony turn to us and asks, "What, no balloons?"

"Tony," I mumble before throwing myself at him in a hug. Making sure he's really here and not a figment of my imagination.

...

"That was more exciting live," Tony informs us when he watches the car explode on the plasma in Shepard's office.

"Anthony DiNozzo, that is the second car you've had destroyed when you're not in it and we watched on a plasma… you're not allowed anymore cars until you prove you won't blow them up, roll them, or in any way destroy them," I inform him while pointing at him. He is visibly shaken by today, so I am trying to little the mood, even for the moment until Shepard opens her big mouth.

"Neither was my fault," Tony complains with a whine.

"You saw it? You were there?" Shepard asks him as we sit around the table in her office. Tony is in front of Gibbs and me while Shepard is at the head of the table to Gibbs' right.

"Saw it, heard it, felt it," Tony informs her.

"You can start whenever you're ready."

"He was waiting when I left the hospital this morning with Jeanne. Shed arranged it. It was her little surprise, I guess. Meet the parents: part 2. I hate sequels," Tony complains making Gibbs and me smile before he continues, "Figured my cover was blown as soon as I saw him. Turned out he'd known for months."

"Kort?" Gibbs asks.

"Probably. I tried talking my way out of it. Made it as far as my car."

"Did La Grenouille tell Jeanne who you were?" Shepard demands like that's important right now.

"He didn't miss a beat. Pretended everything was fine. That didn't last long. I could see his guy driving my car a few car lengths behind us when… boom."

"What was La Grenouille's first reaction?" Shepard demands of the shaken man making me get up and pour him a glass of water, which I hand to him and drag my chair, so I am sitting beside him.

"That he was the target," Tony asks before taking a sip of the water and signing. He continues, "I'm not so sure."

"You think it was you, Tony?" Gibbs asks him.

"It was my car, boss. And we have certainly pissed off the agency a lot lately. Well, the director and I have pissed of the agency a lot lately. Although, mainly me," Tony informs us making me rub his back while glaring at Shepard, she put Tony in this spot.

"For what it's worth, Kort denied the agency involvement… if you believe him, but he didn't deny when I accused him of planting the bomb," I inform him.

"That's because Kort doesn't play by agency rules. That guy's got a hair trigger."

"Where did la Grenouille take you?"

"What does it matter?" I demand of her, Tony almost died, and she is only fixated on the frog.

"Well, kind of blew away the breakfast plans. Blew away a lot of things," Tony informs us sadly.

"Jeanne?" Shepard asks him.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

"You never really thought it could end any other way, did you?"

"You mean, other than badly?"

"You're not supposed to fall in love with her."

"Thank you so much for that, director. I am gonna keep that in mind the next time. Wait a second, there's not gonna be a next time."

"What did Jeanne say?"

"What does it matter to you?" I demand of her.

"Nothing I'm gonna tell you," Tony informs her.

"Agent DiNozzo!" Shepard screeches.

"Nothing you need to know, director," Tony informs her making her sign in fury while Gibbs looks proud of him.

"Where is la Grenouille?"

"I don't know. He dropped me off at the main gate. Drove west. Probably heading to California. He was driving pretty fast. He could even be there now. Talk about his future."

"Yeah? About what?" Gibbs asks Tony as he leans forward.

"Doesn't think he has one."

"Probably doesn't," Shepard says, and I get the feeling she hopes he doesn't.

"He wants out."

"Kort know," I state.

"That would explain why he's so desperate to find him. The CIA is about to lose one of its most prized assets."

"What exactly does he mean by 'out'?" Shepard demands of Tony.

"Well, he's gonna call and arrange a meeting. And give himself up. Because he says NCIS is the only agency he trusts."

...

"What time? Did she say how long she would be gone?" Ziva says into her phone in the squad room as McGee returns with coffee for the three of us. He places a cup on Ziva's desk, hands me the next and sits on the edge of Ziva's desk. Ziva continues to talk into the phone, "No, no, I understand. Thank you." Tony arrives and slaps McGee on the back of the head before moving over to his desk, sitting down.

"What was that for?" McGee demands.

"Believing I was dead," Tony informs him.

"Oh, Anthony, we all believed you were dead… it's up to you to prove you're not. And you did," I inform him.

"How did I prove I wasn't dead before I arrived?"

"You have bad lungs."

"What?"

"Victim downstairs never had y pestis. You did," I explain making him node.

"Hey, I never believe that you were dead. Ziva was the one that gave up on you," McGee defends himself making Ziva lightly punch him in the arm.

"Don't even think about the head slap. Is everything cool with the director and Gibbs?" Ziva asks him.

"Beyond cool almost icy," Tony informs her.

"Yep… if you have a hot beer and the director's mood will cool it before her soul or heart," I inform Ziva making Tony laugh into his hand while taking his phone and calling someone, probably Jeanne.

"You seem anxious," Ziva comments.

"I'm fine. Anyone call for me?" Tony asks.

"The polar bear," I tease him making Tony smile at me.

"No," McGee answers him honestly.

"IF you're calling the hospital, she's not there. She called the ER to let them know she was going away from a few days," Ziva informs him making Tony angrily hang up the phone.

"Going where?" Tony asks.

"She did not tell them."

"Well…"

"She knows?"

"She knows."

"What are you going to do?"

"I am gonna wait until the morning and then talk to her," Tony informs her as Abby runs into the squad room screaming. She runs over and hugs Tony from his shoulder around to his other shoulder, almost knocking him off the chair.

"Tony! I knew you were all right. I know it. Everybody else gave you up for dead, even Ziva," Abby exclaims happily while standing back up.

"Okay, so I may have acted a little hastily," Ziva admits while holding up Tony's letter opener.

"That's my letter opener."

"Excellent balance and weight, the edge is a little dull, but I have always admired it," Ziva informs him making him roughly open his drawer to see what else is taken.

"Where is my American pie coffee cup?"

"Palmer," Abby answers him.

"Mighty mouse stapler?"

"Ducky."

"Hey dad," I greet him as he attempts to sneak the stapler back making Tony turn to see Ducky reaching over the divider, trying to put it back.

"My dear fellow I never believed it for a moment. Welcome home," Ducky lies before handing the stapler back to Tony before leaving.

"It's not everyday people think you are dead DiNozzo," Gibbs informs him as he walks into the room.

"And it better not became every day," I threaten Tony.

"Gibbs, I know who blew up Tony's car. Well not Tony's car, but his alias's car. And next exactly who but more like how and why," Abby informs Gibbs asks he runs over to his desk

"Do you have a motive?" McGee asks her.

"Me? No. But they do," Abby informs him as she turns to face him.

...

"Every bombmaker has a signature: the components, the way it's assembled. Sometimes right down to the coloured tape they used to bind it all together. In this case, the components are common to at least nine other bombs that have gone off in the last four years," Abby informs us down in the lab while we stand around the evidence table with the bomb parts on it. She turns to her computer, pulling up the photos of the other bombs while informing us, "I made a match on Interpol. The bombs have gone off all over the world: Algeria, Indonesia, the middle-east, Chechnya…"

"Anything linking the victims?" Ziva cuts her off with her question.

"They were all arms dealers."

"The only problem is Tony's not an arms dealer," McGee reminds us.

"Girlfriend's father is an arms dealer," Gibbs reminds us.

"She's been working nights. I pick her up every morning for breakfast," Tony informs us.

"You park the car, they strap on the bomb, set the timer and walk away," Ziva states.

"You weren't the target, Jeanne was," I inform him.

"Maybe she still is," Tony release.

"Take Ziva," Gibbs orders Tony making them leave to protect Jeanne. Gibbs turns back to Abby and whispers, "Good."

...

"Protection from whom?" Shepard asks Rene 'the frog' Benoit as we enter the study at Shepard's home where they are talking.

"Whoever tried to kill his daughter this morning," Gibbs informs her making Rene raise to greet us.

"Agent Gibbs and Todd, I believe. Well, it's true. My enemies come for my daughter. They wanna see me suffer but she's safe. For the time being," Rene informs us.

"Which enemies? Not this madam director," I state.

"I have many… Your madam director is only one."

"Why now?" Shepard demands of him while ignoring our dig at her.

"Does this have something to do with Operation Lodestone?" Gibbs asks him.

"He's well informed," Rene comments.

"Gotta be… it's our job," I inform him calmly.

"Read us in," Shepard orders him but I don't know that's going to work with the frog.

"Oh what? The arrogance to the CIA to do what? Make me the biggest arms dealer in the world?"

"You control the illegal arms trade, the CIA controls you. Stops people from arresting you," I state.

"That was the idea. Until you came alone and someone found out. Another arms dealer perhaps. And I'm running out of time. I can no longer trust Kort," Rene informs us while walking over form the desk to in front of us leaning against the door, making me snort, I trust that guy less than the FBI, Ari and Shepard combined.

"Did you ever?" Gibbs asks him with a laugh because that guy is not trustworthy, as Shepard rises.

"This isn't the first time you were in this study," Shepard accuses him.

"No. I met your father here on occasion. Many years ago," Rene admits as he looks around the study full of alcohol. Shepard has a problem with that too, not just this arms dealer.

"Tell me about him," She orders him like she doesn't know her own father.

"HE was a fine man. He had a conscience. One day, it got the better of him."

"You believe the story that my father took a bribe while overseeing an arms-reduction treaty?"

"Well, sadly, that's not a story. It's a fact."

"How do you know?"

"Because I paid him that bribe," Rene informs her making her pull a gun out of the drawer of her desk and aims it at him.

"No. You killed him because he wouldn't take it," Shepard corrects him with a crazy look in her eye. She is scaring me know and I'm not the one she's pointing the gun at.

"Well, I can understand how hard that is to accept. My daughter is… she's facing the same struggle," Rene informs Shepard as she slowly rounds her desk without losing her aim.

"IT's not loaded. I guess he beat you to it," Gibbs informs her after looking at her gun. Shepard drops the clip out of the gun to see it's empty.

"I didn't want you to do anything rash before I had a chance to explain myself. I need your protection," Rene explains.

"You have the bullets. Take the damn gun. Protect yourself," Shepard snaps at him as she slams the gun into his stomach.

"You're signing my death warrant."

"Twelve years overdue," Shepard hisses at him making Gibbs squint at her.

"Here's my number in case you change your mind," Rene informs her while placing a card on the desk.

"You'd better leave before I do."

"I hope my daughter is as loyal to her father as you are to yours."

"I'll see you out," I inform him before moving out of the doorway for him to walk in front of me. Once we leave the house he goes to keep walking to a black car hidden in the dark road where a street light is shot out. "Mr Frog," I call after him making him turn to face me with a half-smile on his face at my lack of respect. I continue, "Tell Jeanne, Tony did really love her… that he's sorry."

"How do you know that Miss Todd?" Rene asks me.

"Because I know Tony… he is, was a player, three, four girls at once. He loves her and was willing to move in with her yet he can't comment to a coffee drink."

"You're very loyal to your friend's love life."

"No, I'm loyal to my friends… NCIS might not have worked here because we have an idiot with a person vendetta against you who running us into the ground, try Loss Angeles or New Orleans. I don't want anything to happen to you or Jeanne."

"You're different to most agents."

"I am like every agent on Gibbs' team… willing to stand up for what is right, no matter who is going against us."

"Even Agent DiNozzo was game enough to call me La Grenouille but you call me frog."

"I speak English. In English you are a frog, not my fault that's the name you picked."

"I suppose I never thought of it being translated to any other language when I picked it. And no one ever had the balls to use it if they did."

"I like it. 'The Frog,' it's mysteries and funny at once. Though I would have done a different one."

"Like what? What name in English would you have picked?"

"Something that made people laugh only to become afraid when they hear the horrible things that name has done… like 'the puppy.' Or 'the weirdo.' Something light hearted and funny. But I can't sell weapons, I don't even like letting Tony borrow my knife, let alone keep it."

"You're funny, but you can call me Rene," Rene says while laughing at me which makes me smile, that's what I was trying to do, make him happy.

"Rene the Frog. I am sorry that Shepard endangered your family. I wish I had known to stop her involving Jeanne," I inform him making me walk back over and place a kiss on my check.

"Thank you, Alice Todd. And I will think about going to the other agencies."

"I hope you do, for your sake… and Jeanne," I inform him before he turns and walks over and into the car. Leaving me standing outside of the director's house alone.

...

Gibbs pov

"You just let your own personal obsession get in the away of your professional reasonability," I lecture Shepard the second Rene and Alice is out of the room, as Shepard almost runs over to her alcohol and pours herself a drink.

"That's a lot of crap, and you know it, Jethro. There are no deals for men like him. You wanna chase after him right now and arrest him without a warrant, you go right ahead. But we both know that Kort will have him out before breakfast," Shepard snaps at me. She is emotionally compromised and she got up Tony for that.

"Then get your damn warrant."

"You get a warrant. But you'd better do it fast before his friends get him first," Shepard orders me like a child that got her toy taken away, making me turn to leave but I had a thought.

"If the weapon was loaded, and I wasn't here, would you have pulled the trigger?" I demand of her while watching her drink her drink.

"I guess we'll never know," Shepard whispers to me making me half-smile before I walk over to the desk and pull out spare clip I am carrying, and leave it on the desk, following Alice out to see her standing on her own.

...

"Gibbs would have told us," Ziva says to McGee as I walk into the squad room carrying a coffee.

"Gibbs would have told you what, officer David?" I demand of her.

"IF Tony was taking some time off."

"Yeah, you're right. There always more work to be done when you're a man down on the shift. McGee," I comment while walking to my desk only to call for an update.

"I think I've got something here, boss. I found another one of La Grenouille's shell companies. Similar to the one that leased the stretch limo, only this one leases a yacht down at the Gangplank marina called the Mauritania."

"How big?" Alice asks him, she does like boats, as we all walk over and look over McGee's shoulder.

"Eighty feet, three state rooms. Ziva checked with the marina management. Someone's been staying there since Saturday. Older guy with an accent. They think he's French," McGee answers her as he puts the yacht on the plasma screen above Alice's desk.

"And a younger woman?" Alice asks Ziva hopefully.

"No, he said he was alone," Ziva reports.

"Warrant?" I demand.

"Just arrived from Legal. It is all in order. They could not guarantee it would not stop a concerted legal challenge from the Agency."

"Yeah, let them try. Let's go," I order us making us grab our guns and get ready to go.

...

We arrive at the marina and ready our guns before sneaking onto the boat and search it. McGee and Ziva come in one door while Alice and I come in another. We go down stairs searching every nock and cranny but he's not here and the boat is empty.

"Clear," Ziva calls out.

"Clear," I repeat.

"Clear," McGee calls out.

"Clear," Alice repeats.

"He's gone," Ziva complains.

"Maybe he was never here," McGee comments.

"He was here," I inform them as I hold his jacket that he had at Shepard's house. I throw the coat onto the floor of the boat.

"I hope he's okay… for a bad guy he was nice and let me call him Frog to his face," Alice informs us as we descend the stairs off the boat.

"We'll catch up with him eventually," McGee promise.

"Someone will," Ziva adds.

"One day," I state.

"Hopefully not Kort," Alice adds.

...

"Jethro, do you think Shepard killed the frog?" Alice asks me as she walks down into the basement where I am working on my boat.

"Why do you ask? We don't even know he's dead or if he's alive?" I ask her, sometimes Alice gets ahead of herself.

"No, I mean, if she had gotten the chance."

"Why are you asking Alice?" I ask her as I put the sander down and turn to face my girl, only to see she is very shaken about something making me rush over to her as I ask, "Alice. What's wrong?"

"I think Shepard would have killed him and hide the body," Alice says with a node but I'm not following her this time.

"Alice baby, you have to explain."

"The look in her eye when she had that gun aimed on him… if it was loaded she would have killed him without hesitation. Even though he came to her for help to protect his family. And we were there and would have seen her kill someone who is not a threat."

"I think she would have done what I did to Ari and Shannon and Kelly's killer," I say slowly.

"But her eyes Jethro… did you see them?"

"What about her eyes?" I ask her because I wasn't watching Shepard's eyes.

"She had the same look Ari had before he shot Gerald and me… and before he put us in the freezer… that crazy look," Alice explains with fear in her voice.

"Alice, what are you thinking?"

"It's not over… she's crazy, and wouldn't have cared if Tony WAS in that car. As long as froggy died at her hand… even if she had to kill him, by killing Jeanne."

"Alice, it's over. He's gone and I don't think he's coming back here again."

"Why did she care what Jeanne said to Tony… why did she demand that information? It wouldn't have helped her get frog."

"I don't know… I just…"

"She needs help. Like a straight-jacket or a firing squad."

"We'll get her help," I promise her as I pull her into a hug… I know she would have killed him but I didn't think Alice had worked that out. But I was just underestimating my smart girl.


	2. Kate or not to Kate?

I hum as I take the coffee off the counter and node at Leroy. I walk outside to see someone getting out of a taxi, wearing a black jacket and jeans. I don't think anything of it until she stumbles into me, and I feel a wet spot on developing on my white shirt as she pushes off me. I look down to see blood on my shirt and then I look at where the girl stumbled off to, towards NCIS. She quickly fall down onto the ground, I drop the two coffee and run over to her. I open her jacket to see she is just wearing a bra and bleeding heavily. I place my hands over her chest, putting pressure onto the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood.

"Someone call nine-one-one," I call out but no one listens to me, they just continue to walk past. I put more pressure onto the wound while removing my left hand off the wound and struggling to get my phone out of my jacket pocket. After struggling for a couple of seconds, I get the phone out and dial nine-one-one.

"Nine-one-one. What do you need?" the operator asks me.

"I need an ambulance on the corner of M St and New Jersey Ave. I have a woman bleeding on the footpath and she is unconscious," I inform her quickly.

"IS she breathing?"

"I… Yes, she is breathing. She was walking around a second ago," I answer her quickly.

"Okay. An ambulance is on the way. Keep pressure in the wound," the operator orders me as I adjust the phone so that it is between my shoulder and ear so that I can use the second hand to help put pressure on the wound.

"I am, ma'am," I promise her.

"Do you know her?"

"No… she just walked into me," I answer her as the girl begins to gag on her own blood. Making me ask, "How long will the ambulance take?"

"They will be there soon. Why?"

"She's not going to last long. She's gaging and gasping for air," I explain as I hear the ambulance in the distance, I hope they get here in time.

"Can he roll her?"

"No… she is bleeding heavily, like almost squirting out into the air and I don't want to roll her in case it makes her bleed out," I explain.

"Okay," the operator says while I attempt to stop the bleeding from squirting onto my face making me drop the phone but I don't remove my hand from this poor girls chest again. The ambulance arrive shortly later making me breath in relief, they now how to save this poor girl.

"I've got it ma'am," one of the ambulance officers informs me while placing pressure onto the girl's chest, making the blood squirt out while he adjusts his hold on the wound. I step back as his partner checks her heartbeat.

"No heartbeat," the second ambulance officer informs his partner before attempting to preform CPR but everything he compress the chest, the blood squirts out.

"Does this woman have an allergies?" the first ambulance officer asks me as he grabbed a sterile gorse and attempts to us it to put pressure onto the wound.

"I don't know… I don't know her," I answer him. I watch as they continue to work on saving this girl but it seems that they aren't going to be able to save her. I watch as they continue to attempt to save her but they quickly release she is too far gone.

"She's gone," the second officer states while ceasing to preform CPR on the girl. I pull out my gloves when I see something in her hand, I pull it out gently, only for my heart to drop… in her dying moment she is clutching to Kate's old NCIS card.

"Thank you," I say to the ambulance officers as I pick up my bloody phone and dial the one number that I need to call.

"Gibbs," the person on the other end of my phone answers.

"Jethro, we have a problem," I say softly.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"There's a dead girl."

"You didn't kill her, did you?"

"No… she bumped into me. The problem is that she was clutching Kate's card."

"We're on our way."

"Hurry please," I beg of him as he hangs up.

...

"Alice," Gibbs gasp out as he arrives at the crime scene outside of our coffee shop within record time, he rushes over to where I am standing in the middle of the crime scene, watching the local police stand around waiting for Gibbs to arrive.

"Jethro," I say in relief while moving closure to him but I can't hug him because I am covered in blood.

"How can you turn a coffee run into a crime scene?" Tony teases me.

"She got out of a taxi," I state before adding, "She was holding this… even when she was dead, she didn't want to let it go."

"Do you know who she is?" Tony asks while releasing this isn't a joking matter making me shake my head no as I place the card into an evidence bag.

"You taking this case?" the local cop asks as he walks over to us.

"If we can," I answer him.

"What's about this case that has NCIS so revved up?"

"This," Gibbs answers while showing him the card.

"So what? It's a card."

"It's a card of a dead agent," I correct him.

"It's all yours boys," the cop informs us before leaving over to his officers.

"That was easy," I comment as Gibbs gives me a look before walking off to talk to McGee and Ziva.

"Alice, we're going to need your clothing," Tony informs me with a grin as he looks me over.

"Not going to happen Tony."

"Nah, you would rather Gibbs doing it… bet you both would enjoy it. Little strip tease at work and then you better hope that you lock the door this time," Tony teases me.

"Tony," I hiss at him as I feel my face heat up.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs overlaps me as he calls him over to the crime scene where the body is, surrounded by the gorse and glove from the ambulance. Once we're there he orders Tony, "Shoot and sketch."

"On it boss," Tony promise him before whispering to me, "Guess it's the boss man that gets to see your underwear. Not that that is something new."

"Come on, Alice," Gibbs orders me while walking off back to the truck making Tony make a kissing sound.

"Grow up, Tony," I hiss at him as I flip Tony off and walk after Gibbs slowly. We arrive at the van where Gibbs enters and I follow him into the truck where he is going through the drawers looking for something. After a moment he pulls out a set of NCIS sweats and evidence bag.

"We need that clothing," Gibbs reminds me as he looks over me and all the blood I am covered in. he picks up a camera and takes a photo of me and all the blood, collecting the evidence on my hands. Scrapping under my nails.

"Yeah, I know. And I liked this shirt," I complain making Gibbs smirk at me.

"Me too. Now take it off," Gibbs orders me as he shakes the empty evidence bag. I begin unbuttoning the shirt with a pout, I really liked this shirt.

"Why couldn't this have happened yesterday? I didn't care about that shirt."

"Do you recognise the victim?" Gibbs asks me with a smirk as I continue to undo the shirt and pull it out of my pants.

"No… I… Kate know a lot of people and I didn't care because I always thought she was going to be here, so I didn't pay attention," I inform him as I pull the shirt off, only to see that the blood soaked through to my skin. I put the shirt into the bag before adding, "But Kate didn't give her NCIS card to her friends or boyfriends. She found that being a fed makes them stop talking to her."

"So you think its work related," Gibbs asks me before adding, "Pants too."

"Come on, Jethro," I whine before adding, "Has to be."

"That makes a long list," Gibbs states while smirking at me removing me pants. I put them into the next bag along with me belt.

"Abby better not destroy my belt or I'll shot Shepard," I inform him as I point at him and grab the wet wipe to clean the blood off to the best of my ability.

"Why Shepard?"

"Because I like Abby."

"Fine… I'll let her now that Shepard's life on the line," Gibbs laughs as he takes a swab and taking a sample off the blood on my face.

"Thanks," I laugh at him as he place it back in the box before grabbing the wet wipes, which he uses to clean my face for me. Once the blood is off me to the best of our ability, I lean down to grab the clothing from where Gibbs put them only to hear a camera behind me. I spin around to see Gibbs with a digital camera which he uses to take a second photo of me from the front. I state, "No one better see them."

"Mm-hmm," Gibbs hums to me with a smirk as put on the clothing. Once the shirt is on, I release it doesn't say NCIS but NIS.

"Thank you, Jethro," I mumble as I pull him into a quick hug, glade that he came when I called.

"No prob, we'll work this out," Gibbs promise me as he releases me and steps out of the car. I follow him back over to the crime scene where Ducky has arrived and looking over the victim.

"Jethro, Alice," Ducky greets us.

"What do we got, Duck?" Gibbs asks her as he kneels down next to the victim while Tony gives me a knowing smirk.

"This poor girl wasn't long for this world. Single bullet wound to the chest. I'll know more when I get her back to autopsy," Ducky informs us while getting ready to get her into a body bag.

"No one witnessed her getting shot. John," McGee begins while pointing to an old man sitting at the coffee shop window. He continues, "Saw Alice with her. Almost holding her before the victim collapsed. He said we should talk to the redhead that always uses this coffee shop."

"She was in a taxi… she stepped out and stumbled into me, I honestly thought she was drunk until I released that the wet spot on my shirt wasn't alcohol but blood," I inform McGee.

"Did you get the taxi's plate?"

"No, I was more worried about the woman bleeding out on the footpath," I snap at him as Tony takes a photo of my blood handprint on the ground.

"What can you tell us? Anything?" Ziva asks me.

"I know that you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make a fist."

"About the case."

"Oh, that… um, she was in a taxi coming from that way," I state while pointing in the opposite way of NCIS, I continue, "The taxi dropped her here and popped an illegal U-turn. She continued on towards NCIS."

"Anything else?"

"He didn't have his light on," I explain to them as I think about it while thinking back to when she hit the ground. I remember a flash of light making me blink while explaining, "There was a flash… like an um, photo being taken."

"Or a red light camera," Gibbs states before pointing to the camera mounted near the lights behind us.

...

"What do we have?" Gibbs asks his team as we walk into the squad room.

"Olivia Emily James. 36," Tony begins while putting a photo of the victim on the plasma above my desk. He continues, "Arrested for drugs, prostitution, kidnapping and some petty crimes. Nothing in the last couple of years."

"Anything else? Like how and why she has Kate's card?" I beg of them as I try not to cry.

"Nothing. Sorry Alice."

"Me too," I mumble as I look at the woman who had my sister's card. Why did she have it? What was she trying to do when she died?

"I've been trying to access her phone but it's locked and encoded. It's going to take time," McGee reports.

"Do it. What else?" Gibbs demands of his team.

"We have the taxi," Tony begins while putting red light camera video of the taxi on the plasma, before continuing, "It's not registered to any taxi company."

"Do we know where the taxi is now?" I ask him.

"No. I have a BOLO out on it now."

"What else?" Gibbs demands.

"I got her address," Ziva adds while holding up a piece of paper.

"Does she live alone?" I ask her.

"Her name is the only one on the lease."

"Doesn't mean she lives alone. Means she is lying on her lease," I state because I was never on Kate's lease but I lived with her. Not on anything at Gibbs either. I must be a free loader, only buying food for Gibbs not to eat… not even the chocolate, how can you not eat chocolate?

"Let's go," Gibbs orders us while leaving the squad room.

...

"Tidy place," I comment as we walk into the apartment of the victim. The apartment is spotless, there isn't even a speck of dust anywhere in the air.

"See what you can find," Gibbs orders us while putting gloves on.

"What are we looking for?" Ziva asks him.

"Why she had Kate's card… And why she died," I state while walking in and putting my own gloves. I walk into the bedroom looking at how neat bed is made, neater then Gibbs and he's an old marine. I hear someone enter the room behind me, making me look over my shoulder to see Gibbs looking around the room but also watching me.

"We'll work this out," Gibbs promise me as he opens her closet only to quickly close it with a blush making me blink in confusion because my man doesn't blush. Not even when Tony the asshole walked in on us having a private moment.

"What's wrong?" I ask him as I walk over to him and slowly reach out and open the door only to find a closet full of sex toys making me slam it shut again.

"Tony can process that," Gibbs whispers to me before moving around the room again making me node in agreement, I hope that she at least cleans them after use. Tony does not need another STD, or time off work.

"Right, not doing it," I agree verbally while walking around the room to the bedside table where there is a photo face down. I hesitate for a second before picking it up and looking at a photo of the victim, Olivia, and Kate smiling when they were younger, Kate has a wet shirt from the wet t-shirt contest she won in collage. Which makes me call out, "Jethro."

"What is it, baby?" Gibbs asks me as he walks around the bed from the other side so that he can look over my shoulder at the photo.

"Kate looks so happy… and young," I say softly while running my finger over the photo of her.

"Bag it. Maybe Abby can get something off it," Gibbs orders me.

"Yeah… maybe," I mumble without taking my eyes of my dead sister. I miss her so much and this case is reminding me what I am trying to forget, the feeling of her blood… all over me as she lays dead on that fucking roof top, because of Ari.

"Alice," Gibbs whispers while wrapping his arms around me and gently taking the photo out of me hand.

"I miss her," I whisper as I watch him bag the photo.

"We all do… we all do," Gibbs states before placing a kiss on the top of my head and walking off looking around again.

"Boss, you have got to see this," Tony calls out from somewhere in the apartment making me exchange a look with Gibbs before following Tony's voice into the living room where there are photos covering up the window. Photos of navy ships, and information on all of them pined to them all, like there class, uses and number of people on each on.

"What the hell is going on?" I ask everyone in confusion, but what I don't ask but am thinking is, 'what does Kate have to do with it?'

"That is a good question," Tony agrees with me as he picks up a note book but it's not written in English so he hands it to Ziva.

"That's not a language I speak," Ziva informs us after looking at the note book making us look at each other in confusion.

"What is it then?" I ask her in confusion as I hand her a bag to bag it for Abby.

"Don't know."

"Anything else?" Gibbs asks us as he looks at the photo.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," McGee informs us.

"She doesn't like taking her trash out," Tony adds while pointing to the bags.

"Lovely," I mumble as I walk over and look into the bag.

"Her tooth brush is also still in the box it came in," Tony adds making me pull a face.

"Lovely," I state again while looking at the rubbish.

"Process everything. Tony, you have the bedroom," Gibbs orders us making me laugh.

...

"What do we got, Duck?" Gibbs asks as we walk into autopsy after processing the victim's apartment.

"Even if the ambulance was able to get her to the hospital, she wouldn't have made it. The bullet ripped through her heart, killing her. She couldn't have been shot far from where she died," Ducky informs us.

"How long?" I ask him as I look at the heart on the scales.

"Minutes," Ducky answers me.

"Anything else, Duck?" Gibbs asks him.

"Yes. She was pregnant… four weeks," Ducky informs us.

"Would she have known?" I ask him.

"It's unlikely," Ducky answers me while handing me the report on the drugs in her system.

"That all?" Gibbs rushes Ducky.

"No, I'm just getting started," Ducky reminds us before walking around the body to her pelvic and inform us, "She has some tearing in her vaginal walls."

"Was she raped?" I ask him softly while feeling bad for the girl while grabbing Gibbs hand tightly, please tell me that they didn't do that to this girl.

"That's the most likely cause for this tearing."

"Could anything else have caused it?"

"Vigurs intercourse can cause it too. But there is no way to tell which one it was."

"Why do you think she was raped then?" Gibbs asks Ducky.

"Because she was restrained," Ducky begins while lifting her arm where there is chaffing from behind restrained. He continues, "And I found a big clump of skin under her nail. Everything about her body informs me that she fought it. And the tearing indicates that she wasn't lubricated properly."

"How long before death… was this action?" I ask Ducky while pointing to the victim without saying the words again.

"Hours, whoever raped her, killed her," Ducky answers me while rolling her over to show us something while continuing, "She was restrained for a number of days. I found bed sores on her back."

"Is that all?" Gibbs asks him as he releases my hand and pulls me into a sideway hug, holding me.

"So far. I sent the bullet and nail swabs up to Abby," Ducky informs us while pointing up to the lab on the floor above us.

"Thank you, dad," I say to him softly before leaving autopsy with Gibbs. Gibbs pulls me into the elevator without saying a word, and just holds me as we ride it up to the elevator. I turn around and tightly hold him.

"Alice, baby. Are you alright?" Gibbs asks me softly.

"I don't know… how could someone do that to another living being?" I ask him sadly.

"A monster that we are going to catch," Gibbs promise me as he rubs my hair in an attempt to console me.

"I hope so," I mumble into his chest.

"Come on, baby. Let's catch this guy," Gibbs whispers to me as the elevator door opens making him release me but grab my hand. He softly pulls me into the lab where Abby is working away at her computer.

"Abby, what do we have?" I ask her making her jump in surprise as she spins around to face us.

"Lots of stuff, but I don't know what to make of it," Abby half answers me as she spins back around to face her computer.

"What do you have?" I ask her as I walk over to her with Gibbs who I am still holding his hand.

"Well, the blood at the crime scene and all over you was only Olivia James," Abby begins.

"Well, she was the only one bleeding at the crime scene," Gibbs reminds her.

"I know, but that's the easiest bit, so I am starting there," Abby informs him.

"Continue, we won't interrupt again," I promise her.

"The DNA in her rape kit hasn't got a match in any database, yet. But it has something interesting… ask me what?" Abby asks us as she bounces on the spot while turning to face us.

"What is interesting about the DNA?" I ask her.

"The DNA matches the victim's DNA… her assaulter is her half-brother," Abby informs us.

"That's disgusting," I comment as I pull a face.

"I agree. He is also the victim's baby's father."

"That's a good job Abs," Gibbs complements her while placing a kiss on her cheek.

"I'm not done yet," Abby informs us as we go to leave making us stop. We turn back to her and wait for her to continue, "I got a hit on the bullet that killed her. It's a cold case. Kate and Olivia were the only two witness to the murder of a boy they went to college with them."

"Who's the case?" I ask her.

"Us… well, Mike Franks. It was an NCIS case."

"Why?" Gibbs demands of her.

"Because the victim, Benjamin Tony Davison, was a marines son," Abby explains to us.

"Did they get the guy?" I ask him.

"No, it's still open and cold."

"Not anymore," I comment.

"Pull the evidence. Run it again," Gibbs orders her.

"Will do. Files on the way," Abby informs us.

"Thank you," I say to her before leaving with Gibbs. What is going on? Why didn't Kate ever tell me that she was a witness to a crime?

...

"Is Abby sure?" Tony asks me in surprise when I informed him of that connection to the past in the squad room as I read the file of Mike's case. Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Ziva and I are all working at our own desk.

"Abby is always sure," I state as I attempt to read this file, looking for a suspected.

"Was there any suspects?" Ziva asks me.

"A couple," I answer her as I pick up the paper off Mike's suspects before handing it to her.

"I'll run these down," Ziva begins.

"I will," Tony corrects her when he sees the female names on it, and snatching it out of her hand.

"Anything else?" Ziva asks me.

"Nothing… the victim's family still ring NCIS every anniversary of the death of their son. It's in three days. Let's see if we can catch the guy for them," I answer her before pulling out one of the photos and adding, "Except he had one of these."

"It's the same language as the book we found in Olivia's apartment," Ziva comments while looking at the notebook photo.

"That's what I was thinking about. We couldn't translate it back then," I state as she takes the photo.

"Do you mind if I take this?"

"Nah, just give it back when you're done. I signed this file out in my name," I state while turning back to the file to read everything they found in the past.

"McGee what are you doing?" Tony asks the geek who is looking at his computer intensively.

"I am looking at Olivia's bank statements. Every Tuesday she has takeout and every Thursday she goes to the gym," McGee begins.

"So?"

"So, she has been doing this for years. But she hasn't done it this month," McGee explains us.

"Really?" I ask him in surprise.

"Why do you sound surprised about that, Alice?" Gibbs asks me.

"Back with Benjamin's case he had takeout every Tuesday and gym every Thursday, until the month he died. He stopped then to," I inform them as I pull out the old paper bank statement.

"What gym?" Gibbs asks us both.

"Um," I mumble as I look through my paperwork.

"305 fitness," McGee and I read together making me blink in surprise.

"Take out place?" Gibbs asks us next.

"Afghan Grill," McGee and I say together again.

"Put them both onto the plasma," Gibbs orders us making me node as I walk behind his desk and use his printer to scan the bank statement onto the computer. McGee puts them both onto the plasma above my desk.

"There both National Capital Banks," Tony releases as he looks at the top of the reports.

"They have contracts with AT&T," Gibbs states while walking over to me and looking at the bank statements.

"Why are they both getting thirty thousand dollars on the third of the month?" I ask McGee while pointing to the amounts.

"It's a fake company, nothing on it," McGee informs me after searching the company off of Olivia's statement.

"Mike found the company in his case… but their bank book was stolen and Mike cleared him from paying Benjamin. I have the accompanying burglary file, it was a teenager who confessed and admitted that he was paid by some guy to steal the bank check book," I inform them.

"Did they retrieve the bank book?" Gibbs asks me.

"No, still missing. The account was frozen but still open," I inform them as I hand McGee the account information to pull it up. I continue, "Mike always thought that the killer kept it and was going to use it again. NIS was planning on catching him when he used it again."

"The account is still active," McGee informs us as he puts it up next to the other two.

"There," Gibbs says while pointing to the money leaving this account for Olivia's account.

"Why won't we notified when that account was used?" Ziva demands of us in confusion.

"I'm waiting for a call back on from the National Capital Bank, when they call me. I'll ask them," I inform her as my phone begins to ring making me walk over to my desk and answer it.

"What about the writing?" Gibbs asks Ziva.

"NCIS, Special Agent Todd," I answer the phone.

"Special Agent Todd, this is Mary Parker, the branch manager, from the National Capital bank. I was told that you wanted to talk to me?" Mary asks me.

"Ah, yes. I am looking into a cold case, and it involves an account with you that is permanently frozen," I begin. I pick up the account information and inform her, "It belonged to a Hess Mechanical. Are you familiar with this account or do I need to call another branch?"

"Hold on, I'll have to look it up," Mary informs me as I hear her type in on her computer on the other end. She asks me, "Do you have an account number?"

"Yes. It is an American express and the numbers are, 6011-416-165-342-173, **_(This is a fake number I pulled off the internet, used to look at sites when you want to look but they won't let you look without giving your private card numbers. It's not a real card number.)_** I believe that the account is still open," I inform her as I read Mike's writing.

"Yes, I have it now. I see that there was a big withdrawal three days ago," Mary informs me.

"Yes, we found that too, but we should have been notified when that happened," I state.

"It says on my file that we did notify you by both phone and email."

"Really? Can I have that number and email please. I need to find out why they didn't notify the right people," I state while picking up my pen to write them down.

"Of course. The number is 202-555-0149, and the email is ," Mary informs me.

"Thank you. Has there been any other withdrawals?"

"Yes, one every month for the last year," Mary informs me.

"Anything before then?"

"No the account was frozen for years."

"How much is left on the account?"

"Thirty grand," Mary informs me as I hear her type for a moment before she informs me, "The account has had a card ordered and sent last year. It also has internet banking set up."

"Why would you allow that?"

"It was done down in New York. I will have everything on this account emailed to you."

"Can you email it to , please?" I ask her.

"Can do."

"Thank you. And have a good day," I state before hanging up.

"What did you find out?" Gibbs asks me.

"The account has been active for a year," I answer him.

"Why didn't they call us?" Tony asks me.

"They did… or at least they called Shepard," I snap as I get up and begin to storm up to office with Gibbs following me to make sure I don't physically hurt her.

"The director asks not to be disturbed," Cynthia informs me as I storm into her office.

"She's already disturbed," I inform her as I slam the door open and storm in.

"Agent Todd, have you heard off knocking?" Shepard hisses at me as she holds her phone to her ear.

"Have you heard of doing your job?" I hiss back making her look at me in confusion. I continue, "National Capital bank has been ringing you for a fucking year, informing you that an account WE froze has been being used. An account attached to a murder, and you couldn't be bothered to do your fucking job, and now we have a second VICTIM down stairs."

"I'll call you back," Shepard says into her phone as I lean onto her desk. She looks at me and informs me a lie, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, stop fucking lying for once in your life. I just got off the phone with Mary, she informed me she has been informing you about the withdrawals for a year," I hiss at her without caring that everyone is watching this fight.

"I didn't…"

"Didn't do your job, we know. And we will inform Olivia James' family that she is dead because the NCIS director is too busy climbing the chain of command then to save an innocent life," I cut her off. I continue, "You might have gotten away with neglecting your job to catch froggy, but this is low, even for something like you."

"I never got anything about this account."

"I have every email, and phone call being emailed to me… I hope the family doesn't sue you. But I would," I snap at her.

"I get hundreds of calls every day, I can't keep up with all of them," Shepard attempts to defend herself.

"It's your job to do that. It's your fucking job to do that, and keep innocent people from dying," I hiss at her in anger.

"I didn't…"

"Every month for over a year," I state.

"What?"

"They called and emailed you for over a year. Every month," I snap at her.

"So?"

"Fail to do your job once, you're an idiot. Twice, your incompetent. More than a year, every month, you are not cut out for your job. You're not cut out to make coffee for inmate and the sooner SecNav takes Madam Director off that door, the safer this country will be," I hiss at her in disgust. She looks at me with the realisation that I don't trust her to protected us, let alone the innocent people, and that I won't trust her, ever. I turn and leave her office without waiting for her next lie because I don't believe them.

"Alice, what did you hope to active just know?" Gibbs asks me as we leave Shepard's office.

"I was hoping to get her to admit her guilt or at least make her do her goddamn job," I answer him.

"That wasn't going to happen, she is too proud," Gibbs states before ordering me, "Go through everything from the bank. Look for something to help us find this guy."

"On it, Jethro," I promise him before walking down the stairs and over to my desk. I open my emails and find the letter from the bank.

...

"What do we got?" Gibbs asks us as he walks into the squad room tonight.

"Olivia was unemployed and only got money from the stolen account, drugs, prostitution, kidnapping and some petty crimes," McGee begins to report as he puts her bank statement on the plasma above my desk while we get up and walk over there.

"The bank has been active on and off for the last three years. Only ever one or two withdrawals in a year and we were unable to catch the guy. Until this year, it's been active all year. It's had three bank cards issued and online banking set up. Not only has there been withdrawals, there has been deposits. All over the country," I report while grabbing the remote off McGee and putting up my statement. I continue while putting up newspapers reports onto the plasma, "Each deposit was moved to someone else's account and then someone in the depositing town dies. I had all the bullets shipped to Abby. We have their riffling patterns so far. They match the two we have."

"We have a murder for hire at large," Tony jokes with a bag old western accent.

"What else?" Gibbs demands of Tony.

"I contacted all Franks' old suspects. Three are dead, six are in jail for unrelated crimes, two have alibies. That brings us to him. John Brown, he was the first victim's roommate. No known alibi," Tony informs us while putting up a photo of a brown hair, pale old mug shot.

"Bring him in," Gibbs orders.

"I would but there is one problem… he hasn't been seen since Franks spoke to him."

"Ziva."

"I can't translate the books because there not a language but a code," Ziva informs us.

"Can we crack it?" I ask her.

"It's been cracked before… it's the code the Nazi's used back in world war two," Ziva informs us.

"Do we know what it says?" Gibbs demands of her.

"I spoke to one of the people who used to crack the code back in the war. He looked it over and was able to crack the code… it's a list of names, amounts of money and dates."

"Whose names?" I ask her.

"Their names," Ziva informs while pointing to the victims I found in the old newspaper. She then puts the cracked code onto the plasma.

"There must be hundreds of numbers," I comment while looking at the numbers, we have only found ten.

"None of the names on Olivia's list are on Benjamin's list."

"Everyone keeps their own black book. In the same code," I release.

"Phone, McGee?" Gibbs demands of the geek.

"Abby's working on it," McGee reports.

"Help her."

"On it," McGee nodes before turning and walking off towards the lab.

"Anything else?" Gibbs asks us.

"The cards was sent to Olivia's apartment… she's not as innocent as we thought she was," I inform him.

"Find John Brown," Gibbs orders us.

"On it, boss," Tony answers.

"On it, Gibbs," Ziva overlaps him.

"Will do," I promise him as we all continue back to our desk.

...

"What do you have, Abby?" I ask her as I walk into the lab with Gibbs the next morning.

"Something interesting," Abby answers me with a grin.

"What?" Gibbs asks her.

"This," Abby answers while putting up photos of hundreds of dead people with bullets throw their chest, just like Olivia.

"She was an assassin," I inform her.

"Really?" Abby asks me before putting up a text message while informing us, "I also found this."

'This is going to be my last, L,' Olivia texts.

'Why?' L responds.

'I'm getting out. That is all you need to know,' Olivia writes back.

'No one leaves this life.'

'If you don't let me out, I'll tell everyone what you did to Ben.'

'We did.'

"That is all there is. The rest of the messages are location for the killing or sex," Abby informs us.

"That all?" I ask her.

"No, she had this in the photo of Kate," Abby informs us while running a black light over the photo making us put on orange glasses.

'If I am to die before I wake

My killer is my pimp

Look for my boss

And you shell find my loss

And save the lives

Of the people from my knives

The men

With pen

Stop the killing

Before everyone is dead

Before it states another war.'

"Very poetic," Gibbs comments.

"Not very helpful though," I add.

"It's written in blood," Abby informs us.

"Do we know whose?" Gibbs asks her.

"The father of her child."

"Anyone else think that's the real hint?" I ask her.

"Yep. Too bad she didn't sign the guy's name," Abby agrees with me.

"That would be doing our job," Gibbs informs us before turning and leaving with me.

...

"What do we have?" Gibbs demands of us as he walks into the squad room with two coffees, he place one onto my desk.

"A pattern, going back years," Tony answers him as we get up and walk over to the plasma screen between McGee and Tony's desk.

"First there is a lump payment into a stolen account," I begin while putting up four more accounts we have found.

"Then there is a smaller lump payment into another account," Ziva continues while placing seven peoples account from all over America into the plasma.

"Someone dies by a bullet to the heart," McGee continues.

"With bullets from the same gun, and make," Abby informs him as she walks into the squad room.

"Then that account gets drained," Tony adds while putting up where a day later the money is removed from the account in cash.

"The killing always happens on a Wednesday. The account owners go to the same gym, 305 fitness on a Thursday. Then to Afghan Grill on the next Tuesday. Then someone else die," I inform him as I click onto the plasma putting up a security photo of eight people, including Olivia, meeting there, talking and swapping gym cards.

"Except that pattern was broken yesterday. When this happen," Ziva informs Gibbs while taking the clicker from me and putting up a still of two men meeting, alone. And they openly exchange the gun and a photo of Olivia dead on the ground with me kneeling over her.

"What about the taxi?" Gibbs demands of Tony.

"I located it. He is an illegal immigrant, but the car is clean. He picked Olivia up from the Afghan Grill, he didn't know she was bleeding," Tony informs us.

"Where was she heading?" I ask him.

"NCIS. He dropped her off early because his wife went into labour and he didn't want to miss the birth of his first daughter," Tony informs us with a laugh.

"Do we know who these men are?" Gibbs demands of us.

"Um, yes," McGee answers him as he takes the click and puts up two mug shots as Ziva's phone begins to ring and she answers it while McGee continues, "John and Liam Brown. Two brothers. Both been arrested for drug trafficking."

"Do we know where they are?" Gibbs ask us.

"No, we are still looking."

"Find them," Gibbs snaps at us.

"I found John Brown," Ziva informs us making us look at her. She continues to inform us, "He's dead. He was found last night in a dumpster, bullet to the heart."

"Find Liam," Gibbs orders us.

"Checking the BOLO boss," Tony promise him as he walks back to his computer to do that.

"Get the bullet and body shipped here," Gibbs orders us.

"On it boss," McGee states while walking over to his computer to do it.

...

"Gibbs, Alice. Gibbs, Alice," Abby yells as we walk into her lab tonight.

"What?" Gibbs asks her

"I got the bullet and DNA of John Brown," Abby informs us.

"What did you find?" I ask her.

"The bullet matches the other victims," Abby begins. Before turning to us and asking us, "Ask me why I am smiling."

"Again, Abby. You are always smiling," I remind her.

"Just do it.

"Why are you smiling?" I ask her.

"I ran John's DNA. I was bored so I ran every test I could think off, including a pregnancy test, he's not pregnant."

"Abby?" Gibbs states.

"I ran it against Olivia's baby," Abby informs us while putting up a match.

"He's the father?" I ask her in surprise and disgusted.

"No, he's the brother of the father. You find his brother and I bet you find her killer," Abby informs us.

"That good work, Abs," Gibbs complements her before placing a kiss on her cheek and turning to leave the lab with me.

"I'm not done yet," Abby informs us before moving back over to her computer. We walk over to her where she pulls up the old evidence files.

"Did you find something?" I asks her.

"Yep. The old tech didn't find anything, which given the time, that's not surprising. But I found something," Abby informs us with a grin.

"What?" Gibbs demands of her.

"This," Abby informs us while pulling up a photo of the bullet and then she fiddles with the colours until Kate Todd becomes visible. She continues, "It's on each of the bullets. Every bullet has a name on it, and this is the only one that doesn't match the victim."

"Kate was the target," I mumble softly while glaring at the bullet and gripping Gibbs hand. Abby puts up the other bullets that match their victims' names.

"Yeah. But the question is," Abby begins.

"Why did Benjamin die and not Kate," Gibbs finishes for her while pulling me into a backwards hug.

"Why would anyone want to kill Kate?" I ask them soft. I can't have almost lost my sister back then.

"We will find out," Gibbs promise me.

"I also found this," Abby informs us while pulling up an old photo of Kate with me, my arm is in a cast and I am covered in bruises. Kate is pushing me on the swing, I remember that day. It was just after I moved in with her and the first time I remember being happy, even with the pain. But I was still waiting for the other shoe to fall and Kate to hurt me or for my 'father' to get me back.

...

Gibbs pov

.

I read what we have found so far and what Mike found the first time. It is late at night and everyone but for me and Alice has left for a night's sleep. I can't go home because someone tried to kill Kate years ago, and Alice deserves to know who and why.

I continue to work but I can't help looking over at Alice where she has fallen asleep at her desk, holding onto a photo of Kate. This case is hard on her, she still misses her sister so much and I know she still blames herself. Her mother blamed her on the day of Kate's funeral, and she knows she could have tried harder to kill him in autopsy but only Kate tried and failed. I can't let her blame herself but I can't stop it, what I can do is catch this guy and who ever hired him to kill Kate.

I look away from my girl and back to the report which I am attempting to find anything to help us with but I quickly release I'm not going to find anything tonight. I stand up, stretch my back, making it pop before walking over to the sleeping girl.

"Alice, wake up," I say while shaking her shoulder. After a little bit, she blinks up and looks up at me in confusion. She is so cute when she wakes up.

"Wha?" Alice asks me in confusion making me smirk at her.

"Let's go home," I inform her softly making her blink at me in confusion before my words click into her head making her node at me. She sleepily stands up and grabs her jacket while I return to my desk and get my own jacket. We both grab out guns and badges before walking towards the elevator.

"Me hungry," Alice sleepily informs me while slurring her words because she is still mostly asleep.

"We have leftovers at home," I remind her with a chuckle as I lead her into the elevator that has finally arrived. She leans her head onto my chest, snuggling into me, not that I mind. I happily hold my girl as we ride the elevator with our minds racing about the same thing, who the hell tried to kill Kate when she was in college? Why did they fail? Not that I am complaining and Alice is defiantly not complaining.

Once the elevator reaches the ground floor, I lead Alice out of the elevator past the night guard who nodes at us.

"Night," I say to him because he is used to us leaving really late at night. He knows I am a workaholic while Alice won't leave without me.

"Night, Agent Gibbs," James, the guard, says to me as I walk Alice out of the building and over to my car.

...

I arrive home and get out of the car, walk around to the passenger's side where Alice is sleeping. I open the door and quickly catch Alice before she falls out of the car. I move her around so that her head is resting on my shoulder and I can pick up the pretty girl. Once I am holding her comfortably in my arms, I carry her over to the front door, which takes me a moment to open while juggling Alice. I finally get the door open and carry Alice upstairs into our bedroom where I lay her onto the bed. I remove her coat without waking her up but she wakes up when I try to remove her shoes.

"Wha," Alice mumbles in confusion.

"I'm taking your shoes off so that you can sleep more comfortable," I explain to her making her hum at me. Alice nodes while sitting up to take the shoes off herself making me walk over to the closet and grabbing her sleep wear. I walk over to her and hand it to her making her pull the shirt she is wearing over her head, making me look over her torso, if we weren't so tired, I might try to do something with her tonight. She removes her bra before putting on the NIS shirt. She removes her pants next before putting on the boxers while I reach out and remover her hair out of the tie before she lays down on her pillow fort. I tuck her into bed before walking over to the bathroom and getting clean. Once I am done showering I get dressed and climb into bed with Alice, falling asleep almost immediately.

...

I wake up the next morning to Alice having stolen my pillow over the night, adding it to the ever growing pile she has of pillows, not that I mind. I get out of bed and get dressed for the day. I walk down stairs and make a coffee which I carry into the basement and sip it before picking up my sander, slowly working the wood while thinking about the case we are working and who would want to kill Kate. That is going to be the way to close this case, catch the person who hired the killer and make him talk… and I bet to get him to talk is to put Alice in the integration room, even if she doesn't talk.

Almost an hour later of thinking and working the wood I hear a sound upstairs letting me now Alice is up and in the shower getting ready to finish this case and catch the bad guys like normal. I stop working the wood for a second and walk over to my desk where there is a box sitting on the bench, I pick up the little box and roll it in my hands before sliding it into my pants, promising myself I will remember to ask today.

...

Alice pov

.

We return to work the next morning hoping to have something to catch this asshole. I am carrying my coffee and some pizza that we brought on the way to work for breakfast. We walk into the squad room to see that Tony, Ziva and McGee are already here, working on the case. I am wearing a black singlet under a red lace shirt with a white jacket. My jeans are light blue with white lace down the left leg.

"What do we have?" Gibbs demands of them.

"Nothing… absolutely nothing," Tony answers Gibbs in surprise because that's not something he has to say to Gibbs ever.

"Well, find something," Gibbs yells at him before storming off.

"What crawled up your boyfriend's ass today?" Tony asks me as he gets up and walks over to me.

"Don't know," I state as I walk over to my desk and sit down but Tony follows me over to my desk and sits on the corner of my desk.

"Didn't get any hanky panky?" Tony teases me.

"Don't you have some work to do?" I demand of him with a blush. I don't want Tony talking about my sex life, especially not at work.

"Someone else walk in on the two of you?" Tony asks me.

"DiNozzo, fuck off," I hiss at him in annoyance.

"Oh, is the wittle girl pissy too… who was it? Or couldn't Gibbs get it up for you?" Tony teases me while pinching my cheek and shaking it like I'm a child. I spin my head and bite his arm making him hiss in pain while moving away from me.

"Oh, is the little baby hurt?" I mock him without answering his teasing.

"Alice, that hurt," Tony complains but I don't care.

"Why don't you attempt to find the person who tried to kill Kate when I was younger?" I hiss at him but he doesn't move making me tried to bite him again, making him get up and move back to his desk but his eyes tell me he has something planned. I look at my keyboard but it doesn't seem to have glue on it but I don't trust Tony so I poke it with a pen which doesn't get glued to the keyboard so I log on.

We all look into the case but it feels like the case has stalled in the ass now. Now incoming or outdoing money, and no leads.

"Gibbs, I found Liam Brown," Ziva informs Gibbs as he returns to the squad room once she checked the BOLO.

"Where?" Gibbs demands of her while taking a sip of coffee.

"He works for 305 fitness. He is all the killers' personal trainer," Ziva informs him.

"When is he on?" I demand of her hopefully.

"Started ten minutes ago," Ziva answers me while checking on it.

"Let's go," Gibbs orders us while grabbing his stuff and heading for the squad room.

"Let's go," I copy him making Tony, McGee and Ziva laugh at me as we grab our stuff and follow him.

...

Ziva, Gibbs and I walk into the gym while leaving Tony and McGee guarding the exits in case Liam tries to leave. We see him instructing a girl on how to use the treadmill.

"Let's go," Gibbs orders us while leading us over to Liam.

"Liam Brown," I call to him making him turn around in announce.

"I'll be who every you want, sexy," Liam says to me as he looks me up and down making me want to hide behind Gibbs.

"NCIS, Special agent Gibbs," Gibbs snaps at him while flashing his badge at him.

"Mm-hmm," Liam hums without looking away from me.

"We're here to arrest you for murder," Ziva informs him making him give her a look before turning back to me.

"What? I didn't kill anyone," Liam exclaims while looking at everyone.

"No, of course not," I comment making him smirk at me.

"See, pretty girl knows what is right," Liam says while touching my face.

"Remove the hand before I do it for you," I threaten him but he doesn't do it. Making me grab his hand off my face and twisted it behind his back, up to an angle that is putting pressure onto every joint in that arm. I quickly kick his feet out from under him making him in hit the ground with my knee digging into his back, holding him to the ground without releasing the arm.

"Owe… let me go," Liam complains.

"She told you to remove your hand," Gibbs informs him while smirking at the situation without ordering me to release him.

"Tell her to release me."

"Alice, release him. That's wrong," Gibbs says but it doesn't hold any real order, he's just humouring Liam.

"You are the one who has planned hundreds of murders that we know about. Including your own brother," I hiss at him as I handcuff him tightly making him groan in pain.

"What?" Liam's muffled voice comes from the ground where his face is still pressured into the ground. I stand up, letting Ziva pull this pervert off the ground.

"Can I bite him?" I ask Gibbs making him chuckle softly.

"If you were going to bite him, you should have done it when he attacked you," Gibbs informs me.

"I didn't attack her, she attacked me," Liam yells as Ziva leads him away.

"Should have bitten him," I complain to Gibbs while following them out to the car to return to the squad room.

...

"Alice, I want you to integrate him," Shepard orders me in observation late tonight as Liam sits in integration.

"She's staying with me," Gibbs snaps at her without looking away from Liam in integration.

"Alice is going to integrate him, Agent Gibbs," Shepard snaps at him before turning to me, "Get in there and get him to talk… or your fired."

"He's a creep," I complain making Gibbs glare at Shepard more.

"She is not going in there on her own," Gibbs snaps at her without looking away from the window.

"Jethro, she is going in there and there is nothing you can do about it," Shepard informs him angrily before turning to me and yelling at me, "Now get into the integration room and get him talk. Or I will fire you."

"No… she is not going in there because your embarrassed about your own incompetents," Gibbs yells back at her.

"I am your boss agent Gibbs. Don't make me fire two agents on the same day," Shepard threatens him too.

"She's not going in there," Gibbs yells back without caring about the threat.

"Yes she is," Shepard snaps back.

"No she is not."

"Yes she is."

"Alice is not going in there for you to get her killed," Gibbs hisses at her in anger.

"Agent Todd get in there this instantly," Shepard orders me while pointing towards the door to the integration room.

"Alice, don't," Gibbs orders me when I go to walk into the door to follow the witches orders for the first time in my life.

"Agent Todd, do it now," Shepard orders me.

"Alice, stay here," Gibbs orders me while grabbing my shirt and glaring at Shepard without missing a beat.

"Todd. Don't make me repeat myself," Shepard hiss at me while glaring at Gibbs. What is she pissed about now?

"Director, she is not going in there without backup," Gibbs snaps back at her again while moving in front of me, hiding my body from the director.

"Agent Gibbs, she is going in there and she is going to do what she is paid to do… catch the bad guys. Not fuck you and play pranks with DiNozzo," Shepard hiss back at him.

"She does do her job. She helps MY team catch the bad guys, and she has been doing that since before you were the director or she worked for NCIS," Gibbs snaps back at her in anger making me place my hands on his back in an attempt to calm him down.

"This isn't a debate Agent Gibbs, this is an order," Shepard informs him before giving me a look. Gibbs glares at her for a long while before turning to me and whispering so that she can't hear him.

"Baby, if you ever feel uncomfortable or in danger just get up and leave," Gibbs whispers into my ear before letting me start to leave but Shepard has more to say.

"And loose the over shirt, he wants to see your body not a tank," Shepard hisses at me while looking my body over. She continues, "And suck in that fat stomach."

"No, Alice is not doing either of them. She is going to do the integration how she is now," Gibbs snaps at her before signalling for me to continue out the room while ignoring Shepard's snide remarks. I walk into the hall outside of the integration room where I take a deep breath before walking into the room because this is the first time I have integrated someone alone.

"Evening," I greet him as I walk over to the chair and sit down on the chair in front of him.

"Evening, sexy," Liam greets me in return at he looks over my body making me move the chair closure to the desk, hiding as much of my body as possible from this creep.

"Do you know what I find curious?" I ask him my first question of the night.

"Why we're in this dirty room instead of my bedroom with that clothing on the ground," Liam offers to me with what he probably thinks is a sexy smile but it looks to me like he is taking a shit.

"No, your brother was murder and you haven't asked about him or the case once," I correct him without hesitation.

"Well, we won't close. But the two of us can be," Liam informs me.

"He was shot to death on your order," I inform him calmly.

"What? You think I have that kind of power?"

"I know you do… you order all of these peoples murders," I inform him as I lay out his victims plus Kate's photo of when Ari killed her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I am talking about the hit for hire business you have going. It's been going for years," I state while pointing to Benjamin's photo.

"I don't know…"

"You planned my sisters murder but Benjamin died instead of her… was your brother soft or did he miss on purpose?" I cut him off making him give me a look.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Liam denies to me.

"Was that his initiations?" I ask him while placing the photo of Kate's name on the bullet.

"I don't…"

"Who hired you?" I ask him next.

"I don't know anything."

"Why did you have one of your hired guys killed and then kill your brother?" I ask him.

"I think I want a lawyer."

"Nah, terrorists don't get lawyers," I inform him calmly.

"I'm not a terrorist," Liam yells at me.

"Agent Kate Todd, who you planned to murder, was killed by a terrorist… I don't have proof that you didn't pay him to do it. And anyone who pays a terrorist becomes a terrorist by law," I inform him while pointing to Kate.

"I'm innocent."

"Everyone in this room always says that… but unless you prove it, you are getting on the marine carrier to Gitmo," I promise him and then look at my watch before informing him, "Which takes off in twenty minutes. Talk or get on it. I don't care either way."

We stare each other down for almost ten minutes without talking. Each second that drags by he looks more scared and then there is a knock at the door.

"That's the transport. Talk or I open the door and they take you," I inform him while pointing to the door.

"I didn't kill her," Liam begins while pushing Kate's bloody photo back towards to me.

"Everything or I open the door," I state.

"It started in high school. A friend of mine wanted her father dead, I didn't ask anything but I kill him. She payed me a hundred dollars. I released that I could make money doing that. It started just with little kills here and there until I released a lot of people were willing to pay for it."

"How did you find your killers?" I prompt him.

"I train them at the gym. They always complain that they can't get a job, I always offer them something small. Robberies to make sure that they are trust worthy, then I get them to kill someone with a watcher to make sure they do it," Liam explains to me.

"It was James' job to kill Kate?" I ask him.

"Yes… it was his starter murder but he screwed up and killed Ben… he was a good worker," Liam explains to me.

"Why did you let him continue to work with you?" I ask him.

"He was my brother."

"How do your clients find you?"

"Word of mouth. Or on the deep web," Liam explains as the door opens and Abby enters.

"Abby is going to take a swab of your mouth. Then you are going to continue talking about this business," I inform him. He looks at me while opening his mouth and Abby swabs it for us before leaving.

"Olivia had killed for me for years," Liam informs me.

"Until she wanted to leave because she got pregnant," I state.

"Yes… I told her when she got in that there is only one way out. Dead or be the only one standing," Liam informs us.

"Who killed her?"

"James… he shot her," Liam informs me.

"Why did you kill him then?"

"He let her get away, living. There not meant to get away," Liam informs me.

"Who did it?" I ask him.

"I'm not giving up my team."

"We know who they are," I inform him while lining up his 'team' I continue, "I just need to know who killed James or they will all be arrested for murder of him. And countless others."

"How did you find them?" Liam demands of me.

"You shouldn't have used that card for so long. We tagged it. Every payment we charted. Right now, they are being picked up," I inform him because local police are picking them up.

"Her," Liam informs me while pointing out the youngest girl in the group.

"Who hired you to kill Kate Todd?" I ask him.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I hate when people try to kill my sister," I inform him tightly making him gasp in fear for a second.

"I don't know who he was. It was years ago," Liam begins.

"Job like this. You must have records," I inform him.

"I do."

"Well, look up who hired you," I order him tightly.

"The books are in my house," Liam informs me.

"Draw," I order him as I put a blank piece of paper in front of him with a pencil. He picks up the pencil and sketches his house and a book in the back of a kitchen cupboard.

"There you go, sexy" Liam informs me while pushing the paper back to me.

"Do you give us permission to enter your house?" I demand of him.

"Yes, whatever," Liam agrees with me while I get up and take the paper with me. Gibbs meets me in the hallway where he grabs my shoulders and looks me over.

"I'm fine, Jethro," I promise him but he knows when I am lying.

"You will be when we get this bastard," Gibbs corrects me while placing a kiss on my head before leading me back to the squad room where we grab our stuff to go to Liam's house.

...

We arrive at Liam's house and all begins looking through the house. He might have given me a mud map but I don't trust it. I am searching the kitchen with Gibbs while Ziva searches the bed room, Tony the bathroom and McGee the living room. Gibbs is pulling out all the lining from the cupboard while I am searching under the kicks off the kitchen's benches.

"Got something," I inform Gibbs while pulling out a bundle of money and more bullets.

"Me too," Gibbs agrees with me as he pulls out almost twenty books, all labelled by years. When Gibbs opens the book it is full of the same writing as all the other killers.

"Guess he started that writing style," I comment while pulling out something else making me scream when I see it is a living rat. Tony, Ziva and McGee come running making me blush as Gibbs laughs at me.

"She's fine… find anything?" Gibbs demands of them while pulling me back to my feet as I pout, why was there a rat?

"Nothing," They answer him together.

"Well, we found what we were looking for," I inform them while pointing to the books in Gibbs second hand before pointing to the money and bullets on the ground before adding, "And more."

"Let's go," Gibbs orders us before walking away.

"Gibbs making you scream at work. In someone else's kitchen?" Tony whispers to me making me blush before racing after Gibbs.

...

"What do we have?" Gibbs asks Abby as we walk into the lab at almost midnight.

"The bullets you found matches all the killings," Abby informs us.

"What about the money?" I ask her.

"It's fake."

"How do you know?" Tony asks her.

"Because it matches the money we found back with seadog," Abby informs him.

"Please tell me the FBI's not coming," I beg of her.

"I matched it to our photo not theirs," Abby answers me making me smile at her happily.

"Bless you Abby."

"Anything else?" Gibbs asks her.

"I can't translate the book quickly," Abby informs us.

"I'm taking it in for Liam to translate for me," I inform her.

"That's all I have," Abby informs us.

"Besides that," I comments while pointing to the computer screen where she has a match on something.

"It didn't Bing," Abby complains making me laugh.

"What is it?" Gibbs asks her.

"A match on the DNA… Liam is the father of Olivia's baby."

"Good work," Gibbs complements her before placing a kiss on her cheek and leading us out of the lab.

...

"You're back?" Liam asks me as I walk into the squad room and slam the book down for when Kate was supposed to die.

"I'm not playing games anymore. You give me what I want or I send you to Gitmo," I inform him while glaring down at him.

"What do you want again?"

"YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT I WANT… I WANT TO KNOW WHO THE HELL HIRED YOU TO KILL MY SISTER… WE WILL WORK IT OUT. WE HAVE CRACKED THE CODE BUT THIS IS YOUR ONE CHANCES TO TALK BEFORE YOU GET ON THE GOD DAMN PLANE."

"Fine," Liam says softly in fear while flicking through the book looking for the name. After almost a minute of looking he finds the name and informs me, "It's mister Todd."

"Her father?" I ask him in disbelief.

"I don't ask. He paid half in advance but didn't pay the rest when Kate Todd survived," Liam informs me.

"Why?"

"I don't ask normally… but he said he wanted her to die so that he could get back his other bitch," Liam informs me making me storm out of the integration room into Gibbs arms. Kate almost died because my 'father' wanted me back.

"Let's get him," Gibbs whispers to me making me node.

...

I walk up the front path to the door of the house that has always scared me to death but this time I have Gibbs and a warrant on my side. I knock on the door without caring that it is half past one in the morning and that they will be a sleep. They have ruined my sleep enough times in my life, that I can pay that back for a change. The light upstairs flicks on, making me lose my confidents and step back into Gibbs' arms, not that he minds. There is someone stomping down the stairs and violently swing the door open.

"Don't you know what time it is?" Mrs Todd demands of me as she slams the door open only to see me. She is wearing a bathroom and slippers only.

"Mrs Todd. Is your husband in?" Gibbs asks her while holding onto me.

"Why? That thing kill another one of my children," she hisses at us while glaring at me making me look at the ground in shame. I didn't mean to kill Kate, it was an accident and I would take her place in a second.

"Mrs Todd, is your husband in or not?" Gibbs snaps back at her.

"Not for anyone attached to that," she hiss at us while pointing to me.

"Mother, we need to talk to him and if you don't bring him out we will have to arrest YOU for obstruction of justice," I threaten my own mother making her glare at me more.

"Oh, you got your sister killed and now you think that you can boss us around," Mrs Todd hisses at me in anger.

"Mrs Todd, tell us where your husband is right now," Gibbs orders her tightly.

"He's sleeping upstairs," She finally informs us.

"We need to talk to him now," I inform her.

"This can wait to morning," Mrs Todd informs us before going to shut the door in our face but I grab the door, holding it open.

"No, we are going to talk to him now. You don't get to dictate when we can talk to our suspected," I snap back at her while shoving the door open fully.

"You don't talk to me like that," MRs Todd snaps at me before slapping me for talking back to her making me gasp in surprise and pain.

"Mrs Todd, is you lay your hand on Alice every again. I'll," Gibbs begins to threaten her.

"What? You going to arrest me?" Mrs Todd taunts him.

"No, I'll shoot you," Gibbs corrects her before pulling out the warrant for her husband and informing her, "Now, bring your husband out because we have a warrant for his arrest."

"I'll get him," Mrs Todd says in fear.

"No, we'll come with you," Gibbs states before walking into the house, grabbing my hand on the way past, pulling me along. He comes to a stop beside her while hiding me behind him and ordering her, "Lead the way, Mrs Todd."

"Fine," Mrs Todd hisses before turning and walking up the stairs while we follow her. I hold Gibbs hand tightly, this is scarier than staring Ari down in autopsy or dealing with Mann and Shepard or staring down killers. We walk up the stairs and down a long hallway that always scared me. I hated walking down this hallway because when we get to the end, Mr Todd always hurt me with whatever was in his bedroom that day. We walk into the bedroom to see Mr Todd sleeping soundly in the bed, but not for long.

"Mr Todd, get up," Gibbs orders him while standing at the end of the bed but my 'father' doesn't even wake up.

"He's a deep sleeper," Mrs Todd informs Gibbs making me snort. He's a deep sleeper but he would always wake up when I was crying in the night so he could 'give me a reason to cry like a baby.'

"Get up," Gibbs orders him again while grabbing a walking stick that was leaning against the wall and poke my 'father' in the ass twice, making him wake up.

"What?" Mr Todd demands of Gibbs while glaring at him and sitting up, allowing the blanket slide down his body showing that he is not wearing a shirt.

"Get out of bed. You're under arrest for hiring a hit man to kill someone," Gibbs informs him while placing the stick back down.

"What the heck are you on about?" Mr Todd demands of us.

"We have proof that you planned and hired a hit man to kill Kate years ago," I inform him quietly making Mr Todd turn to me and glare at me in hatred.

"If I was going to kill someone. It would be you," Mr Todd hisses at me while standing up out of the bed, showing that he is only wearing boxers and I look at the ground.

"Mr Todd, you are under arrest for the planning of Agent Todd's death and for threatening a federal agent," Gibbs informs him while grabbing his hand cuffs to arrest him.

"Can I get dressed _Agent Gibbs_?" Mr Todd taunts Gibbs.

"No," Gibbs answers him while releasing my hand and walking over to my 'father' and handcuffing him.

"You can't take me out like this. I have a reputation to uphold in the community," Mr Todd hisses at Gibbs as he does the cuffs up tightly.

"Should have thought about that before hiring a hit man," Gibbs informs him before turning and leading Mr Todd down the stairs and out the front door with Mrs Todd following us.

...

"Alice, baby, are you sure that you can do this?" Gibbs softly asks me in the hallway outside of the integration room.

"I can't live in fear of him anymore," I state making Gibbs pull me into a tight hug, holding me.

"I'm not going to let him hurt you anymore," Gibbs promises me while placing a kiss on the top of my head.

"I know," I mumble by I'm still scared of him… I was never afraid of the monster under the bed because my monster slept in the room right above mine and he scared me to death to this day.

"Let's get him," Gibbs says to me before leading me into the integration room where my 'father' is sitting with his lawyer.

"Took you long enough," Mr Todd hisses at us as we walk into the room and walk over to sit across from them.

"We can take as long as we want," I inform him softly while gripping the chair under me in fear of this man.

"Agent Todd, you have nothing on my client but for a personal grudge," Hotchner, Mr Todd's lawyer, informs us.

"We have a statement from the head of the hit man for hire group's confessing to your client hiring him and he has a copy of every check, every call about killing Agent Caitlin Todd," Gibbs informs him calmly.

"So you have a killer pointing the finger at my client?" Hotchner demands of us.

"We also have the bullet… with Kate's name on it," I inform him calmly.

"So someone else 'hired' him to kill this person."

"We have a recording of Mr Todd ordering the hit… he states repeatedly that he needs his daughter killed so that he can get his wife's affair daughter back," Gibbs informs him while placing the transcription down on the table for the lawyer and Mr Todd to read. The lawyer picks it up and reads the entire transcript without saying a word.

"There is no proof that he is the one who ordered this. You could have written anyone's name," Hotchner informs us.

"We matched the voice to Mr Todd's voice to the transcription from when he requested you. And we matched the signatures on the bank transfer to Mr Todd. The teller also identified Mr Todd," I inform him as Gibbs places the evidence on the table.

"If you have all this, why are we here?" Mr Todd demands of us.

"Because we are waiting for overtime to run out… we don't need him to say anything. He is going to prison this time," I inform them.

"And what does that mean?" Hotchner asks us in confusion.

"Mr Todd was arrested for the abuse of his youngest daughter three months before this hit… that Kate raised him on, and he got away with it because he threatened the child. He was held in prison for almost six months before he threatened the child and she was too scared to speak at the trail," Gibbs states while showing Mr Todd's mug shot from back then.

"Right he threatened her," Hotchner asks while I am trying not to be scared as my 'father' glares at me.

"Yes. The jail found this old letters when I called them," Gibbs informs him while placing a stack of photocopied letters threatening me. Saying that he is going to get me back and what happened before is nothing to what he is going to happen next. That no one is ever going to believe me because I am just a bastard child that no one will ever love. That I am going to die. That Kate is going to be killed and her blood while be on my hands. That when he is done with me, I will take my own life and save the rest of the world from having to deal with my waste of oxygen.

"This was years ago. It wouldn't hold up," Hotchner informs us.

"No. But he did admit to planning and paying for Kate's death," Gibbs informs him while placing that letter onto the table with that line highlighted.

"I didn't mean it," Mr Todd yells.

"Yes you did," Gibbs corrects him calmly.

"I didn't mean it, I was mad that I was in prison," Mr Todd hisses his defences.

"You admitted to hiring someone to kill one of your daughters… it is the proof we needed," Gibbs corrects him.

"If that is true you would have arrested my client back then," Hotchner informs us before getting up and stating, "Mr Todd get up. We're going. They can't hold you."

"We have the arrest warrant… apparently a judge disagrees with you," Gibbs informs him while holding the warrant.

"You've been harassing my client for over a year," Hotchner states.

"You mean when my sister was murdered in the line of duty and he came to the apartment I shared with my sister and demanded I vacated my premises?" I ask him. Mr Todd glares at me making me look down in fear.

"We're doing our job. If he didn't broken the law we wouldn't have spoken to him. Like we haven't since the funeral of Special Agent Caitlin Todd," Gibbs adds before signalling for the agents outside to enter the room and arrest my father making me smile. Gibbs whispers into my ear, "Alice, baby, do you want to the honours."

"Mr Todd, you are under arrest for the hiring of a hit man. Anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law," I begin to read my 'father' his amendment rights while clasping my hands behind my back and behind the chair.

"You can't do this," Mr Todd calls out before lunging at me across the table making me gasp in fear. I go to move back but I am too slow meaning that Mr Todd lands on my, knocking the chair over with me in it. I roughly land on the ground, while still being in the chair with my 'father' landing on top of me pinning my arms under the chair. I gasp for air as my 'father' pushes his knees into my stomach and shoving his shoulder into my chest. His forehead hits my noise making it crack and I gasp in pain. "You'll always be a bitch… and soon enough Agent Gibbs will work that out and leave you like everyone else. He can't really care about you," Mr Todd hisses at me while digging his knees in more.

"Mr Todd," Gibbs hisses while grabbing the collar of my 'father's' shirt and pulling him off of me. Once Mr Todd is off me Gibbs almost throws him back to the agents over the table, while ordering him, "Take this animal away before Agent Todd defends herself."

"Yes sir," the agent says pulling Mr Todd out.

"You will regret this, bitch," Mr Todd calls back to me as he is pulled out of the integration room down to lock up.

"Alice, baby. Are you okay?" Gibbs asks me while pulling me up onto my feet by grabbing my shoulders.

"I'm fine," I lie while trying not to cry and softly gasping for air from having it knocked out of me.

"Of course you are," Gibbs says to me while pulling me into a hug making me grab his shirt in fear of the man who was taken away moments before.

"Jethro, why does he hate me so much?" I ask him in confusion because I still can't work that out after all these years.

"Because he is a heartless bastard who doesn't deserve to have children," Gibbs answers me as he rubs my back softly.

"He never did anything to his children. Just me," I mumble against his chest.

"Well, I love you and nothing Mr Todd says can change that," Gibbs promises me.

"Promise?" I ask him softly.

"Swear on my coffee," Gibbs informs me while prying my hands of his shirt and leading me out of integration towards the elevator to go home for the night.

...

"Alice, baby, what are you doing?" Gibbs asks me as he walks out to where I am sitting on the back stairs staring up at the stars.

"Do you think Kate would hate me for getting her father arrested?" I ask him softly as I attempt not to cry.

"I think she would be proud of you," Gibbs answers me while sitting down next to me and wrapping his arms around me.

"I don't think so… she loved her father so much," I inform him while turning into his chest, enjoying the warmth he is always emitting.

"Well, I know for a fact that she loved you more. She was afraid that he would hurt you, more than she loved him," Gibbs promises me while rubbing my hair.

"I don't know," I mumble into his chest, holding onto his shirt.

"You don't have to, because I will tell you every day you need it until you believe me," Gibbs promises me while leaning down and placing a kiss on the crown of my head.

"I love you," I mumble into his chest because I love him and I don't know what else to say. I also don't want him to leave me because I don't say it enough… I can't lose him to Mann or Shepard.

"I love you too," Gibbs promises me before placing his fingers under my chin and tilting my head up. Once I am looking at him, he leans down and gently kisses my lips. He removes his lips from mine and let me snuggle back into his chest while listening to his heartbeat and watching the stars together.

...

 _ **To everyone in north Queensland, I hope you are alright after this flooding that you have had in the last week... I hope you were safe and dry.**_


	3. Family

"I'm not asking when you lost your virginity but if… you lost it," Ziva informs McGee as they arrive at the squad room together, and McGee gives her a look. I am wearing a red shirt under my leather jacket, and a pair of blue jeans.

"Bitch, elf lord has lost his virginity… he used to have sex with Abby in her coffin," I inform her as they both walk to their desking while McGee gives me the same look.

"What's wrong with this picture?" Ziva asks as she looks at Tony working at his desk.

"You mean, aside from Tony being here before us? And actually working?" McGee asks her.

"I can hear you, you know?" Tony asks them while filling out paperwork at his desk like a good little agent. Ziva slowly walks over to Tony's desk.

"I am here if you would like to talk," Ziva informs him.

"About what?"

"I know how much you cared about her."

"I'm fine, Ziva."

"All right, but I thought maybe you need a little cheering up."

"If I need to be cheered up, I would've put superglue on McGee's keyboard," Tony informs her as McGee attempts to login to his computer but his fingers get glued to the keys making me laugh… my pranking buddy is back.

"You put superglue on my keyboard," McGee complains making Tony laugh.

"McGee, haven't you learnt anything the whole time you've been on this team? If Tony is in before you, get a new keyboard," I remind him through my laughter.

"Well, you got me," Tony overlaps me.

"Come on, this is unbelievable," McGee complains but it's his own fault. Every time Tony arrives at work before McGee, he puts superglue on the keyboard.

"I was sort of saving it for a rainy day."

"Did it help?" Ziva asks him while giving me a look for lecturing McGee and not Tony.

"Didn't hurt."

"You," I add with a laugh.

"You know," McGee begins while placing his foot on the keyboard and attempts to pull it off as Gibbs enters the squad room. He complains, "Boss, Tony…"

"I know," Gibbs cuts him off while opening his top drawer of his desk and producing solvent for the glue. He throws it in the air and catches it as he walks over to McGee's desk, placing it on the desk while asking, "Are you ever going to learn, McGee?" Gibbs is wearing a white shirt under his brown shirt under his black jacket again, looking quite handsome.

"IF he hasn't learnt by now, no," I answer for McGee.

"Grab your gear, we got a petty office in a hit and run," Gibbs informs us making us all grab our guns and leave McGee glued to his keyboard.

"Guys… little help, please," McGee calls after us as Gibbs hits me on the ass.

"Ow. What was that for?" I complain while rubbing my ass with a pout. I didn't do anything wrong and he still hits me.

"Giving Tony the superglue and letting him put it on McGee's keyboard," Gibbs informs me as we step into the elevator.

"In my defence… I wanted to put it on McGee's chair and Ziva's keyboard but Tony said by the time McGee sat down, Ziva would already be glued and McGee wouldn't sit down," I defend myself with a bad defence.

"HOW is that better?" Ziva asks me.

"Because we have only glued McGee to his chair twice before," I begin.

"And he only has to remove his clothing," Tony continues.

"Then put on his spare clothing."

"Which has itching powered in it."

"That makes Abby think he has an STD again."

"McGee had an STD?" Ziva asks us but we don't answer her.

...

"Hit-and-run. It's a felony now, but in DiNozzo's Guide to Women, a way of life," Tony jokes at the crime scene as Gibbs kneels next to the victim, checking the victim's wallet while Tony takes photos.

"And sometimes the women hit Tony," I joke while snapping my fingers in the pattern of when Tony got hit over his head by a good wife, (the good wife club) and smirking at him.

"Or in this case, death," Gibbs corrects us both as Tony photo's the navy ID.

"How did he end up over here?" Tony asks because the body is not in the car but in the middle of the road.

"Good question DiNozzo," Gibbs complements him as he drops the wallet into the evidence bag I am holding for him. Once the wallet is in the bag, I seal it and sign it.

"At least he went out looking sharp."

"Yes. But when he dressed this morning, I doubt he was aware that the end was nigh," Ducky comments as he arrives and place his bag of needed gear to do his job next to the body while looking at the car and commenting, "When people choose not to wear their seat belts, they rarely consider their own mortality. If they did, they would definitely wear their seat belts. You know, I would've thought with that kind of damage he would be all the way down there. Did you move my body, Jethro?"

"Someone did… but we have more brains then that. Especially near a bridge," I promise him as I raise my hands in surrender as Gibbs stands up and looks around the crime scene.

"Well, the state police said they didn't touch the body after they ID's him. Report indicated he blew that stop sign over there," Tony informs us.

"Swerved to avoid another car," Gibbs adds.

"Then he went through the windshield when he hit the bridge?" Tony asks in disbelief.

"Hello," Ducky comments as he goes to move the clothing to insert the liver prob only for it to come undone at the seams.

"This just keeps getting better," Tony comments as he takes a photo of Ducky removing the top clothing before continuing to talk, "I'm going with stripper."

"It is not uncommon way for young service men to… complement their incomes. In fact, when I was young, I used to," Ducky informs us while removing the top completely.,

"Dad, daughter… don't want to know," I cut him off quickly while pointing to him then me because I don't want to know, even if Tony does by the looks of it, making him smile at me before rolling the victim, showing a bloody abdomen.

"Used to what?" Tony asks him.

"Tony, I don't want to know."

"Oh, my," Ducky comments while removing debris from the wound.

"Shotgun, close range," Gibbs comments while holding a dish to collect the debris.

"Our hit-and-run just became shoot-and-scoot," I complain.

"But there's no visible damage to the head. I do not believe that this gentleman… made that hole," Ducky informs us while looking from the victim on the road to the car against the bridge.

"And if he didn't make it, who did?" Tony asks.

"The more I think about it, the more I can't believe we fell for it. Tony with a girlfriend," McGee comments to Ziva as I walk over to them.

"Weirder things have happen," I state.

"I believe he had real feelings for her, McGee," Ziva admits making me feel bad for her. She really likes Tony.

"I don't doubt that… see what she looks like?" McGee comments.

"Dad thinks we're missing a body," I inform him while rolling my eyes.

"Sounds like you wish you had the assignment," Ziva teases him while nodding to me.

"Yeah, I don't know why the director didn't give it to me to begin with," McGee comments.

"I don't know why she gave it to anyone at all," I state.

"Still talking about the little probie losing his virginity?" Tony asks us with a grin.

"And other things," I state.

"Down here!" Ducky calls out making us all walk over to the edge of the bridge to see him at the riverbank. Once we're able to see he points while saying, "There." McGee work his way down to a dead girl…

…

Ducky investigates her injuries while McGee photographs this part of the crime scene. Ducky comments, "This is more like it. She has a smashed cranium, lacerations and possible multiple fractures. I think we've found our human cannonball."

"I think the state police definitely had it wrong, boss. Petty officer Munoz didn't blow off that stop sign," Tony comments to Gibbs where we are standing next to the car, looking down at them processing the girl.

"Nah, he was in the other car. He got run off the road by the guy who did," Gibbs comments.

"Then got shot for his trouble."

"No footprints. Her companion took off in Munoz's vehicle and left her here to die," Ziva reports in the riverbank with Ducky and McGee.

"Who does that?" McGee asks in confusion.

"Clearly, someone in a terrible rush," Ducky comments.

"Rush to where?"

...

"Well, we know where Petty Officer Munoz was in a rush to. We spoke to his roommate. Munoz was throwing a surprise party for one of his friends who just arrived from Iraq," Ziva reports as she walks into the squad room with Tony and throws her bag behind her desk.

"But he was late coming back from… the Chelsea girl school class of 57' go year reunion. And I got the pictures to prove it," Tony adds while picking up the plasma remote off my desk and putting the photos on the plasma above my desk. I get up and walk around to see the photos by sitting down in Gibbs' chair, only to wish I didn't. The photos are of old women putting money into the first victim's underpants while laughing making Tony comment, "My god. It's like cocoon meets dirty dancing I wonder if Ducky has dreams like this." While Tony is talking Gibbs walks into the room and comes to a stop right behind Tony making me smirk, this is going to be good. Tony continues without knowing the danger he is in, "Gibbs probably isn't too far behind." Gibbs looks over at me in annoyance at that comment while I smirk at him. Tony quickly releases his mistake and comments, "He's standing right behind me, isn't he? Sorry about that, boss."

"Gonna to be your dreams one day, too, DiNozzo," Gibbs whispers to him before walking over to me and pointing so that I get out of the chair which he immediately sits down into before pulling me so I am sitting on his lap with his arms around me working on paperwork on his desk.

"Well, maybe Petty Officer Munoz danced with the wrong woman," McGee guesses.

"And was run off the road by a jealous husband," Ziva adds.

"What, in his motorized wheelchair? Come on, guys, this is pretty simple. We're looking for a bad guy who got into an accident, and then he carjacked Munoz cause he wanted to get the hell out of Dodge. Put out a BOLO on Munoz's truck. We got a few more leads to follow, but… my gut tells me that Munoz had a terminal case of wrong place, wrong time… unless you gut… tells you something else, boss," Tony says confidently only to see Gibbs shake his head.

"What about the girl, Tony?" I ask Tony.

"The girl," Gibbs overlaps me.

"Yeah, Abby got a hit on the prints," McGee informs him making me stand up so Gibbs can get up and we walk over to the plasma between Tony and McGee's desk. McGee reports while handing Gibbs the paper file with her information in it to 'read', "Heidi Campisano, 25. Though this picture's three years old."

"Pyramid schemes, internet fraud, bogus rare coins," Tony reads while walking over with Ziva.

"She is a con artist," Ziva comments.

"Was," McGee begins.

"Because she's dead?" I ask him.

"No, she dropped off the radar three years ago," McGee corrects me.

"Well, I'm guessing since she's laying in our morgue it wasn't to go legit," Tony comments.

"The car hers?" Gibbs asks McGee.

"No. Car is registered to Nicholas Barnes," McGee reports making Gibbs hand the file to Tony while walking off to the elevator with me.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs calls when we almost exist the squad room without the agent following us like a good little puppy.

...

"Nicky! Get your ass out here!" Mr Barns, Nicholas father, yells while kicking onto the bathroom door in a mechanics shop. He turns to us while wiping his hands on a rag and while informing us, "Run into the bathroom like a little girl when he saw you guys pull up. This is about Tiffany, right?"

"Tiffany?" Tony ask him after looking at us. We don't know anyone by the name of Tiffany.

"Yeah, his girl! Nicky," Mr Barns informs us before turning and kicking the door again.

"The names not Tiffany," Gibs informs him.

"Oh, really. You don't say. I told him that girl was no good. He didn't listen to me," Mr Barns informs us while the toilet gets flushed behind him. Nick, Nicholas Barns, comes out of the bathroom without washing his hand and his father informs in, "Well, there's some navy cops here want to ask you a few questions. Now, you remember what I told you about telling lies." Mr Burns give his son a look before walking off to work on something in the shop. Nick gives us a look before walking over to a toolbox making me give Tony and Gibbs a look.

"Something wrong?" I ask Nick as he walks around him.

"Nope," Nick answers me.

"Just had to pee all of a sudden?" Tony asks him as I pull out my note book to take notes on this interesting conversation.

"Figured you want to ask about Tiff, didn't really want to talk about her. Is that a crime?"

"No," Gibbs answers him without hesitation.

"But murder is," I add.

"Oh, murder! Perfect!" Mr Burns call over to his son while walking under a car on ramps up above his head when standing up.

"Do you know this guy?" Tony ask while walking over to Nick, holding out a service photo of the victim. We have surround him, Gibbs to his left, I am behind him and Tony is to the right. He can't run forward because that is a wall, only way out is through us.

"Nope," Nick answers him without really looking at the photo.

"He was shot and killed today. Your car was found at the scene wrapped around a bridge."

"Not my car... I gave it to Tiff. She said hers was stolen."

"Oh, tell 'em what else you gave her," Mr Burns orders his son. But when his son doesn't say he continues, "A thousand bucks. Tell 'em why. Oh, for an operation. What kind? He didn't even ask."

"You also didn't ask how she was," Gibbs states.

"Car wrapped around a tree and all," Tony adds.

"I hope she's dead," Nick hisses in anger.

"She is," I state making him turn and look at me where I am standing behind him. He stares me down for a second before walking around me to the car I am standing in front of.

"If you'd like us to arrest you know, Nicky, that can be arranged," Tony offers him.

"Hey, now, wait a second. Just hold on right there. My boy ain't guilty of anything except for being an idiot. Now, that girl, tiffany, or whoever she was, she was playing him and a couple of other guys. He spoke to her about it, and she run off, that was about a week ago," Mr Burns defends his son as he walks around to face us.

"She said she loves me. You don't lie to somebody you love," Mick informs us sadly.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs says when he spaces out without looking at him. But when Tony doesn't respond he turns his head and repeats, "DiNozzo."

"Sorry, boss," Tony says while breaking a rule.

"I ain't seen her since she left," Nick informs us as he turns back to face us.

"Anybody seen you this morning?"

"Oh, he was here with me, all day. I got about a half a dozen customers who can vouch for that," Mr Burns informs us.

"Names," Gibbs orders him.

"Please," I add.

"Sure. Like I said, my boy's an idiot, but he ain't a killer. Now, a girl like that, playing with people's hearts, you track down some of them jilted lovers. I guarantee you'll find out who done her in," Mr Burns informs us while walking to the front and getting those names for us.

"I can't wait to make those calls," Tony complains because he made them calls before and it's worse when it's _your_ jilted lovers.

...

"You're late," Ducky informs us as we step out of the elevator and into the room outside autopsy which he is standing in the doorway of.

"We have an appointment, dad?" I ask him as I check my watch for the time while coming to a stop in front of him.

"No, we have a crisis. I apologies for not seeing it sooner," Ducky informs us while turning to look at Heidi Campisano that is layed out on the table with her chest open for the autopsy.

"You know how I feel about apologies," Gibbs reminds him.

"Yes, well, you may want to make an exception in this case," Ducky informs us softly. He leads us over to the victim while informing us, "I now know why the driver of the Chevy didn't bother to check on his companion. She was dead… before she was put in the car. All her vehicular injuries are post-mortem."

"Do we know how?" I ask him while we look at the victim sadly.

"Extensive blunt force trauma. She had a subdermal hematoma that would have almost certainly have proved fatal… poor girl was beaten to death."

"Thanks, dad," I say while Gibbs turns to leave while grabbing my hand and pulling me behind him.

"Well, I knew all that an hour ago," Ducky calls out stopping us. He continues to talk while walking towards us where we stopped in the doorway, "What I just learned was that she had been pregnant."

"She gave birth?" Gibbs asks softly.

"Yeah. Right before she was murdered," Ducky informs us making Gibbs slowly lean back against the door in surprise and sadness for this poor child and woman. I shut my eyes in sadness too, how could anyone kill a mother? Especially when the child is that young. It take a long moment for us to get back in control of our emotions and head into the elevator to go see Abby. The ride is silent for the first time in a long time, we don't have time to waste on this case.

"Why, is he on his way down here?" McGee asks a munchy Abby as we walk into the lab.

"No, he's here," Gibbs answers him making me laugh.

"And he's talking about himself in the third person. I like it," Abby exclaims while we come to a stop behind them and she turns to face us while holding her next chip.

"Dad said you had something?" I inform her while getting her back onto the case. For once I agree with Gibbs and we don't have time for long stories or to get off topic for a second if we want to save this child.

"Don't you wanna see what McGee has first?" Abby asks him while pointing at a McGee who is shaking his head no.

"I came down to see you," Gibbs informs her.

"Abby was able to recover amniotic fluid from the dead woman's clothing," Abby informs us while talking about herself in the third person and walking over to the evidence table, clutching a caf-pow… didn't she quite them? Or was that just Gibbs leaving NCIS?

"You got the baby's DNA?" I ask her in surprise while looking over her shoulder with Gibbs looking over mine.

"Abby's running it now," Abby informs us while we watch the process on the computer we are standing in front of. She turns to us and explains while using her hand to punctuate the points, "You can't use it to find the father, but when you have a suspect, Abby can test it and see if he is the father."

"Nicholas Barnes," Gibbs states the suspect that needs running.

"Abby already ruled him out. Not the same blood type," Abby answers him.

"Gibbs work, Abby," Gibbs says to her while smiling at his friend. We all turn and look at McGee who is working on one of Abby's computers. He looks at us for a second before turning back to the computer.

"McGee us going through Heidi's records now," McGee reports. He continues as we walk over to him, "Problem is, because she had so many fake identities, there's about ten times the amount of normal data. Plus, most of the activity is over three years old." The computer beeps as Gibbs stands in McGee's personal space. McGee continues, "But luckily, a snooper program I was running did fine one, two three, four sizable deposits made to her account recently from a name named… Adrian Nelson."

"Maybe that's another boyfriend she conned," Abby offers while looking around Gibbs and me, and clutching her caf-pow.

"Let you know when we get back," Gibbs informs her while turning to leave the lab with me. McGee speed walks to catch up with us before we even enter the elevator.

...

"Heidi Campisano. No, I'm sorry, I don't recognize the name," Mr Nelson informs us as we sit around in the living room of his house tonight. Gibbs is standing up behind the wife.

"Well, she's got a lot of them, Mr Nelson," McGee informs him while showing him the photo of the victim when she was arrested.

"Maybe. I travel a lot," Mr Nelson informs us while placing the photo on the table in front of him and McGee.

"Travel where?" Gibbs demands of him.

"Trade shows. My husband's a computer programmer," Mrs Nelson informs us.

"Well, I work in domotics," Mr Nelson elaborates on his wife's statement.

"That's errrr… home automation. The application of," McGee explains to Gibbs when he looks at him for a translation to Gibbs language.

"Automated techniques for the comfort and security of the home resident," Mr Nelson cuts McGee off while picking up a square flat metal thing. He continue, "I can control the entire house. Light," he turns the lights right down to they are almost off and then back on. "Media," he turns to the TV on and then off, impressing McGee. "Fireplace," he turns on the fireplace behind Gibbs and me. He continues to inform McGee proudly, "Even turn on the lawn sprinklers if someone isn't supposed to be here."

"Who is she?" Mrs Nelson asks Gibbs while looking at the photo of the victim.

"Who was she," I correct her. I continue to inform her, "She's dead, murdered."

"And her newborn is missing," McGee adds.

"Why are you telling us this?" Mrs Nelson demands of us.

"We've traced several recent deposits made to her account from your husband," McGee explains to her.

"From me?" Mr Nelson asks in 'confusion.' He continues, "Well, there's… there's got to be some mistake. You said that she uses a lot of names, right? Maybe she's stolen my identity. Like I said, I travel a lot. It wouldn't be hard to do."

"I can settle this. Feel free to look around. But if my husband says he doesn't know her, he doesn't know her. right?" MRs Nelson informs us while handing the photo back to Gibbs and demanding the last bit off of her husband.

"That's right, honey," Mr Nelson agrees with her. All the power in the house suddenly turns off making me look around in fear, I don't like the dark. Before I can lose my shit too much, Gibbs is resting his hands on both my shoulders. Mr Nelson exclaims, "Well, that isn't supposed to happen. I'm.. I'm going to have to reset the breaker. Excuse me."

"Here, I'll give you some help," Gibbs informs him while shining his torch at Mr Nelson. He helps me up so that I am not left alone in the dark. We walk out of the living room, into the kitchen, then throw to the laundry.

"Reset switch is just in here," Mr Nelson informs us while pointing to the sub board. Gibbs walks over to it and places his hand onto the door so that he can get answers.

"How long have you been seeing Heidi?" Gibbs asks him softly.

"I told you, I don't know anything…"

"No, you told your wife. And I let you. But know I get the truth."

"Just a few months. Till I found out she was stealing money from me. She was forging my signature on my checks. We barely say each other and we never slept together."

"Baby's not yours?" I ask him.

"No, it's not."

"We're going to need your DNA to verify that," I inform him.

"Forget it. I'm not going on the record that I was ever involved with that woman. You need DNA, you're going to have to talk to my lawyer."

"Maybe I'll just talk to your wife," Gibbs threatens him.

"IS your evidence that flimsy that you have to resort to threats? I had nothing to do with Heidi's murder, okay? But if you got something that says I did, you should go get a warrant. Fair enough?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I guess it'll have to be," Gibbs states while opening the sub board and turning power back on.

"Adrian," Mrs Nelson calls making him leave us behind to talk to his wife.

"Everything's fine, honey. They're going to show themselves out," Mr Nelson informs her.

"Everything's not fine," Mrs Nelson hisses back.

"Got it?" Gibbs asks McGee softly.

"Fingernails clippings, toothbrush swabs, and Q-tips," McGee informs us softly while opening his jacket to show us the evidence bag.

...

"He lied to us. This is a check to Heidi Campisano from Adrian Nelson's account. This is a known sample of his handwriting. The signature's real. Four checks. Ten thousand dollars total," Ziva reports in the squad room the next morning with the checks on the plasma above my desk. Today I am wearing a long sleeve shirt that slowly changes from red at the top and black at the bottom. It is tucked into my black jeans. Gibs is wearing a maroon shirt over his normal white shirt and a brown jacket over all that. Gibbs is holding his ever present coffee in his hand while mine in on my desk.

"Heidi didn't steal anything. Adrian sent her the money himself," McGee informs us.

"Did more than that, McGee," Gibbs states.

"Tried to hide it from us."

"DNA?" I ask Ziva hopefully.

"Abby's still working on it," Ziva reports to us.

"Oh, come on, that's not what I'm saying," Tony complains into the phone at his desk where he is still ringing the victims of Heidi.

"Boss, since we got a pretty strong lead here, can Tony stop calling Heidi's other marks looking for suspects?" McGee asks Gibbs softly.

"Listen, I am simply saying just because she was lying to you, doesn't mean that she didn't really love you," Tony informs the latest victim he has called as we turn to face him. The victim hangs up on his making him exclaim, "Hello?" he looks at the phone before slamming in onto it's cradle before picking it up to ring the next one but he freezes when he releases we are watching him, making him demand of us, "What?"

"Let him call a few more," Gibbs informs McGee as he turns back to the plasma with a half-smile on his face.

"We have two theories to explain the dishonesty. Theory number one," Ziva begins.

"Heidi Campisano seduced Adrian Nelson," McGee takes over for her.

"Then blackmailed him by threatening to tell his wife," I continue.

"She had done it before plus, it would explain the payments," McGee adds.

"And the fact she is now dead," Ziva finishes our theory.

"Theory two: Adrian found out that Heidi was pregnant with his baby.

"Also explain the payments," I add.

"And the fact that she is now dead. With those options, I wouldn't lied, too," Ziva finish for us.

"But no doubt, more effectively. But thinking more optimistically, I took the liberty of going out and getting this for when you find out missing newborn," Ducky informs us while walking into the squad room carrying a baby bag. He places it on Ziva's desk and pulls out a baby bottle while Gibbs and I walk over to him.

Any word?" Gibbs asks him.

"Yeah, I checked all the hospitals in the area and beyond. No babies on any doorsteps," Ducky informs us while walking around Ziva's desk to the side we are standing on. When we don't look surprised or disappointed he continues, "But you weren't expecting any, were you?"

"Killer's got the baby, dad," I inform him as he turns to walk away.

"Only way we're going to find that kid is to find the killer," Gibbs adds making Ducky stop and turn back to him.

"Okay, I'm on my way," Tony says before hanging up his phone and rushing up, making us all rush back to our own desk.

"You got something, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demands of him as Ducky leaves the room.

"Yeah, dentist appointment. No," Tony begins when we all give him disbelieving looking because that's a lie we heard a lot in the last year. He continues, "This is for real, guys. I… remember I chipped my tooth and I got the… I'd sent you an e-mail for leave request, like, two days ago… about this." Tony looks at Gibbs who is giving him a look that says this isn't going to happen. Tony looks to me for help because I also got that letter but I don't comment because this isn't my fight to fight. He continues, "You don't check your e-mail. Never mind." Tony's phone begins ringing making him return to his desk and answer it, "Very special agent Anthony DiNozzo, boy who cried wold and who must now suffer periodontal disease for it. How may I help you… Okay. It's Abby. She's got something."

…

We all walk into the lab to see Abby standing in front of her computer doing star jumps. While everyone else stops at the doorway, Gibbs and I continue over until we are standing beside the girl but at a safe distance from the arms she is flinging around.

"Hi, Gibbs," Abby happily greets him while continuing to do star jumps but just facing us now.

"Abby, I think you might need to lay off the caffeine again," McGee comments while looking at her.

"Maybe I need a little more, McGee, you ever think of that? Baby missing," Abby reminds him as Gibbs steps forward and uses his hands to stop her movements.

"You said you had something," Gibbs reminds her while holding her in place.

"Id do. That's what I'm so excited about. Actually, everything's really exciting to me today," Abby informs us as Gibbs releases her. she turns to her computer and pulls up the DNA information as she continues to inform us, "I was able to get the Nelson's DNA off the toothbrush that McGee swabbed. I compared the husband's DNA to the fetal DNA from the missing child. Adrian Nelson? Definitely the father."

"There's no shocker there," Tony comments as they finally walk closure to her now that there is no danger of being hit by an arm. Gibbs walks closure to the plasma while I stay with Abby who I am afraid might have given herself a heart condition with all her caf-pows she consumed for this case.

"Well, I'm not done," Abby defends herself while pulling up someone else's DNA information. She continue to explain to us quickly, "Heidi Campisano? Definitely not the mother."

"She gave birth to a child who is not hers?" Ziva asks her slowly in confusion.

"It's called gestational surrogacy, where the sperm and the egg come from third parties and then the surrogate acts as a hoist," Abby explains for us.

"Abs, did you check?" I begin to ask her.

"Sara Nelson's DNA? Sara Nelson is definitely the mother," Abby cuts me off with the answer to my question.

"That's what the payments were for. The Nelson's hired Heidi Campisano as their surrogate," McGee releases.

"Perhaps she changed her mind about giving up the baby," Ziva guesses.

"That's not the question," Gibbs informs them.

"Did the Nelsons' killer her for it?" Tony asks the question we are all thinking.

"And where is the baby?" I add.

…

We arrive at the Nelsons' house again and walk up to the front door that I look at everyone before knocking on it, but the door opens on its own. We all drawl our weapons and Ziva enters the house first followed by Tony, then me, McGee and lastly Gibbs. We spread out inside the house, taking the rooms as they come.

"Clear," Ziva calls out first.

"Clear," Tony copies.

"Clear," McGee adds.

"Damn it," I complain as I holster my gun in another empty room. I walk back into the hall with the rest of the team.

"Looks like they left in a hurry," Ziva comments as she makes her way over towards us.

"Place is a mess," Tony adds as he falls into step behind her.

"Not all of it," Gibbs corrects them from where we are standing in a perfect baby room.

…

"I do not understand what the Nelsons' plan was," Ziva states as we process the baby's room.

"TO have a baby," Gibbs informs her like it's the simplest thing in the world.

"That part I understand. That is why they hired Heidi Campisano as a surrogate. But if she refused to turn out the baby, I'm sure the Nelsons would've had other options besides killing her," Ziva states.

"I'm not a lawyer," Gibbs states.

"But you were a parent," Ziva states making Gibbs freeze while I glare at her… she and everyone else on this planet doesn't have the right to say that. If Gibbs wants to talk about it he will, but you can't just use that fact to get the answer you want. I wouldn't have her hurting Gibbs because everyone knows about Kelly now… he kept it a secret because he couldn't think about it and didn't want other people mentioning her… he didn't want to be reminded what he lost.

"Do you want to have children, Ziva?" Gibbs asks her after a long moment as I walk over and quietly stand beside him, just allowing him to know I am there if he needs someone to physically hurt, or kill, my bitch.

"Well…"

"It's a simple question," Gibbs informs her while turning around to face her.

"I do not have a simple answer," Ziva defends herself while walking closure to us.

"Once you have kids, you'll understand," Gibbs informs her.

"Are you alright?" I ask Gibbs softly as he turns his back to Ziva again. He gives me a side look without answering me making me want to kill someone, Ziva, for hurting him and making him feel like shit because he couldn't protected his family.

"If the Nelsons were really willing to do anything for their child, they would be getting it medical attention," Ziva states like she knows the bond a parent has to its child more than a father.

"Yeah, well, maybe they are. Safe was cleaned out. Plus, I found the box for an infant car seat in the garage. Their going somewhere with the kid," Tony informs us as he enters the room holding the folded up box and dripping wet.

"You go for a swim, sex-machine?" I tease him, trying not to worry about this child.

"Oh, yeah. Sprinklers went off when I was digging through the trash outside. Nice timing," Tony informs us making me laugh behind my hand. That's hilarious.

"Actually, it's part of their security system. Forgot to warn you about that," McGee informs him proudly as he enters the room. He continues to inform us while ignoring the glaring Tony, "Boss, found something on their computer."

"Thanks for the heads up, probie. I owe you one," Tony calls out as we follow McGee out of the room. McGee walks into the home office and sits down behind the computer while Gibbs places his hand on the back of the chair and I lightly lean on Gibbs so that I can see the big computer monitor… or at least that is my excuse if anyone asks.

"Adrian Nelson is covering his tracks. He erased his entire hard drive," McGee informs us while pulling up the hard drive to show us that there is a hundred precent empty space.

"So we can't see what he's been doing," Gibbs comments as he leans down onto the desk to get closure to the computer screen.

"I thought you said you found something," Tony states while walking into the squad room and leaning down next to McGee, leaving me between him and Gibbs.

"Yeah, the root directory's still intact. There's no personal data, but I did find an API he had written to interface his home automation system to his car's onboard navigation computer," McGee demands while going through the code to pull up what he found while Gibbs looks at him not understanding a single word out of his geeky mouth.

"Mmm. Yeah… pretend you're talking to someone who actually has sex with other humans," Tony orders him making Gibbs give him a look for that comment.

"So not Tony… he has sex with blow up dolls," I inform McGee calmly making Tony glare at me. I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my ass making me rub it while pouting at Gibbs a look who signs, 'Behave or else.'

"All I have to do is hack the API and I can use it to get the GPS coordinates on his car," McGee explains to us.

"Yeah, do it, do it," Gibbs orders him before he even finishes talking.

"This is great. It means I can stop calling Heidi's marks," Tony comments making Gibbs look at him. He adds, "I mean, of course, I will look for those other guys, but…" he cuts himself off by sneezing all over McGee, and he says while walking away, "Sorry. Sorry."

…

"Don't you have some more typing to do or something?" Tony asks McGee as Ziva, Gibbs and I enter the squad room from going to the location of the car that McGee found.

"Yeah, he does," Gibbs informs him while announcing our presses as Ziva and I go to our own desk, removing our coat and guns.

"Car wasn't there," I inform them as Gibbs places the areal photos on McGee's desk.

"What? What," McGee asks in confusion as Gibbs sits behind his own desk. McGee continues to stutter out, "I double-checked the… all right, I think I know what happened here."

"Twenty bucks says McGee's about to say something nobody understands again," Tony states while holding up the money.

"The GPS coordinates came bundled in a proprietary packet. Since it was a beta," McGee rambles on words no one understands.

"I'm starting to think you can't help yourself, McGee," Gibbs cuts him off while commenting.

"The code must have alerted Adrian Nelson that I was tracking him. He reprogrammed his car to send us back false coordinates," McGee explains to us in easy to understand terms.

"Can you deprogram it, McGee?" Ziva asks him.

"I can try."

"Well, while he tries, I'm going to resort to good old-fashioned police work," Tony informs us while looking throw the photos on the plasma screen. He pulls up a photo and asks McGee, "Oh, look. What's that?" he then walks over to his desk calmly.

"Who are you calling?" Ziva asks when Tony dials someone on his hard line phone at his desk. Tony raises a finger to her and then points to the phone.

"Donny. Hey DiNozzo… yeah, man, what's going on? Listen, I got an update on a BOLO. Missing kid. Dead head sticker… left rear window… I know, man… that was good times. Hey, listen man, I got another call, I really got to go. Hang tough, Donny," Tony informs 'Donny the BOLO man' over the phone before handing up as Gibbs half smiles at his agent. Tony opens his drawer on his desk and pulls out a jam filled donut while saying, "Old-fashion police work deserves an old-fashion reward." He takes a big bite of the donut but the jam falls onto his shirt even when he sees it happening and attempts to get out of the way.

"Classic, Tony," I laugh at him as he grabs some paper to attempt to clean himself up. He slams the drawer shut before leaving the squad room.

…

"Nothing here. The truck has been wiped clean," McGee comments as we process Munoz's ute in the garage at NCIS.

"And some one's stolen our petty officer's blood stain," Tony comments as he stands in the open driver's door while looking at his camera that he is using to take photos of the missing blood stain.

"It was also cleaned," Ziva corrects him.

"Or we're wrong about where Munoz was shot," Tony corrects her.

"Witnesses?" Gibbs demands of them while looking into the passenger side door.

"No witnesses. Local LEOs found the truck abandoned near a forest preserve," McGee informs him.

"It couldn't have been there long," Tony comments.

"How would you know that?" Ziva demands of him but before anyone can inform her she continues, "Oh, wait. I forgot… you know everything about everybody."

"Sap. Ziva, there'd be more sap on the roof," Tony snaps at her as Gibbs rolls his eyes at them and signs to me, 'I fought less then these two when I was married.'

"Except for the fact that it rained last night," Ziva snaps back as Gibbs comes around the car to behind Ziva.

"DO I need to send you two back to the men's room?" Gibbs asks them making me laugh, not that I mind. This is the best entertainment I have had since Kate died.

"Hey. She followed me I there!" Tony defends himself.

"Only because you wouldn't talk to me," Ziva yells back.

"Oh, make up your mind… do you want him to talk or shut up… because for the last year you have been complaining that he wouldn't stop talking and now you have a problem with he silence?" I demand of her because she really needs to make her mind up.

"Shutting up, boss," Tony promise Gibbs when he sees the look he is receiving for going to yell at Ziva again.

"Ready?" Gibbs asks us making us all put on our orange glasses and turn off the lights to us to see what has been cleaned up. Ziva turns on the blue lights while Gibbs leans throw the driver's window and I stand beside him so that I can see into the car too. Ziva walks in front of Tony and runs a portable blue light over the chair, showing up the blood splatter that has been cleaned up.

"So much for being wrong about where Petty officer Munoz was shot," Ziva comments.

"We got footprints," Tony comments when Ziva runs the light over the driver's floor.

"Yeah, question is, whose?" I comment while Gibbs stands up beside me because we can't see the floor.

"Petty Officer Munoz was a size thirteen," Ziva informs us.

"Those look like a size thirteen to you?" Tony teases her as Gibbs walks away.

"Send them up to Abby," Gibbs orders them.

…

"The prints where made by a residue of polysaccharide dust derived from beta-glucose. What makes it interesting is the backbone of D-xylopyranose, linked with eight xylose units. Panda poop," Abby informs us in the lab while typing away at her computer near the door before walking off.

"Panda," Gibbs begins to ask her in surprise while we turn to face her as she walks over to her normal computers.

"Poop. Which is why it fluoresces, like all other poop does," Abby finishes for him happily. We walk over to where she is typing at the computers as while looking as confused as ever… why is there panda… poop? And why are we talking about it? She continues to inform us, "What makes it really, really, interesting… is the sodium hypochlorite. Aka chlorine bleach." Gibbs looks from her to the computer and back again in confusion, which is a really cute look. She releases her mistake and informs us, "I lost you at poop?"

"Uh-huh," Gibbs agrees with her with a node of his head and a confused look. I also node because I don't know what she is on about but I am not touching panda poop for the life of me.

"Paper, Gibbs, Alice. A while ago, a group of Chinese researchers decided to try to recycle panda poop into high-quality paper. They contracted several U.S. paper mills to develop the research," Abby explains to us while pulling the website before leading us into the inner office.

"The killer must have gone to one after he shot Munoz," I comment as we follow her.

"The dust from the kill would've been impossible to avoid. There's one within a hundred miles. Closed down six months ago!" Abby informs us while handing Gibbs the address on a piece of paper that she printed out. Gibbs attempts to read it without his glasses before smiling and placing a kiss on Abby's cheek. We leave the lab with the paper, she might have just saved this baby's life.

…

"So, you're telling me that Alice and I am the only ones who has a problem with the panda poop paper?" Tony asks the team as we step out of the car at the location of the panda poop paper mill, also known as the Stern Paper mill. I get out of the back with McGee and Ziva while Gibbs and Tony sit in the front.

"Actually, animal dung's used for a variety of things: paper, fuel, mud bricks. It's very useful," McGee comments as I come to a stop next to Gibbs who is looking over the place.

"Not for them, it wasn't. This place is abandoned," Ziva comments as two doors slam somewhere in the area.

"Not quiet, bitch," I comment while we drawl our weapons. We all take off running around the building to the corner. We come to a stop and Gibbs signals for Tony and Ziva to go one way while Gibbs, McGee and I stay here. We peek around the corner to see the Nelson's fighting about getting something out of the car they are driving.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs demands a report over the radio we are all wearing.

"In position, boss," Tony reports back before Gibbs is even finished saying his name.

"Federal agents!" I yell as we step out and aim our weapons onto the Nelsons.

"NCIS! Hands in the air!" Tony orders them.

"Oh no," Mrs Nelson complains in fear.

"Agent Gibbs, please, you have to leave!" Mr Nelson orders and begs of us at the same time.

"My god, you'll ruin everything!" Mrs Nelson complains making Gibbs lower his gun only for a car to speed off behind us.

"No, no, no. Pleas wait. You've got to stop him," Mr Nelson orders us

"My baby!" Mrs Nelson yells while going to chase the car like a dog but her husband stops her. she cries, "They've got my baby."

"It's okay. Honey," Mr Nelson promise his wife as I lower and holster my gun… we… we stop the rightful parents from getting their baby. We left the baby with someone who we don't even know if they are taking care of the kid… I feel like a right bitch, if we hadn't come, the baby will be safe…

Gibbs walks closure to the car and sees the money for the baby in the back…

…

"At least probie has an idea for his next book. Baby kidnapped, cops screw up ransom drop," Tony jokes as we return to the squad room.

"Tony… how can you joke about this? There is a baby missing and we don't even know what it's well being it… there are a lot of complications that back come from child birth for mother and child," I snap at him before hitting him in the face with my backpack… you do not joke about children's welfare. I storm over to my desk and drop the bag onto the ground, this child needs to be saved… now.

"Let me know asap if the situation changes," McGee says into his mobile.

"The Nelsons hid the kidnapping from us, Agent DiNozzo, the mistake was theirs," Ziva defends us while Gibbs leans down on his desk.

"Well, you should point that out to Gibbs and Alice, Officer David… but the last time Alice was this pissed, Ari had just killed her sister. I'll be in the next zip code," Tony hisses at Ziva.

"McGee," Gibbs order a report with that one word.

"Agents are still canvassing. No one saw the Honda, much less who was driving," McGee reports.

"Keep looking. DiNozzo," Gibbs orders without looking up from his computer.

"Taps on the Nelsons' phones, I'm on it, boss, right now," Tony informs him while using his land line off his desk. Gibbs looks up at him over his computer for the first time making Tony stutter out, "And I… I still have a… a few more of Heidi's marks that I have to track down. That's next. That's right after… I'm on it."

"Ziva," Gibbs calls to her while looing back down to his computer.

"Coordinate with state police, see if we can widen the search," Ziva informs him.

"Alice," Gibbs orders me.

"Coordinating with all local hospitals, morgues, veterinary and any anyone else that could have delivered the baby if there was complications in the hopes that they are seeking medical attention," I inform him while pull up the possible like of thousands of numbers but I am holding out hope for this child…

"Hi, this is special agent," Tony mumbles into his phone as Gibbs gets up and walks over to the filing cabinet while I dial the first of many numbers to be called.

"Boss, you think the kidnappers will call to arrange another ransom?" McGee asks Gibbs.

"They didn't get their money… they need to arrange another one," I inform him as I listen to the phone ring.

"What's the option, McGee?" Gibbs demands of him.

"I'll see about getting more agents on the canvass," McGee promise him as Gibbs leaves the squad room and I watch him go… I don't know how to calm him down this time until this baby is safe… he is thinking what if this child was Kelly and I can't stop that thought process.

"We already have the entire department," Ziva reminds him.

"Hi, this is special agent Alice Todd, NCIS. I was calling to inquire about any babies being brought in, within the last twenty four hours. This child wouldn't have it's mother and will be a newborn with possible complications resulting from birth," I say into the phone when they answer… I don't like this.

…

Gibbs pov

.

"All I know is, we got a call saying that Heidi was dead, and that if we ever wanted to see our baby, we needed to come up with fifty thousand dollars," Mr Nelson informs me when I slam my file down on the table in the conference room.

"Which we did, until you ruined it," Mrs Nelson accuse me as I walk around behind them.

"How much longer do we have to sit here?" Mr Nelson demands of me as I walk around the table.

"That depends," I inform them.

"On what?" Mrs Nelson demands of me.

"On whether or not I get the truth this time," I inform them angrily… they put their child's life on the line by lying to me. Their lucky they didn't get shot or the baby hurt by one of MY agents stopping that car at any means necessary.

"Don't you have something you could be doing? Like… finding my child?" Mrs Nelson demands of me. I continue to walk around the table until I am in front of her and lean down onto the table, staring at her until she starts crying.

"MY wife had a partial hysterectomy four years ago. We tried to adopt and," Mr Nelson informs me.

"Went all the way to southeast Asia and back," Mrs Nelson cuts him off while she is no longer crying.

"Abd then we met Heidi."

"My exact opposite. She had a womb but no eggs. She was a life-saver, it was almost…"

"Too good to be true?" I cut her off while sliding Heidi's wrap sheet across the table while continuing, "Then it usually is."

"We already knew her background, Agent Gibbs. You still think she was trying to con us?" Mr Nelson requests of me.

"You paid her," I remind him tightly.

"Paid surrogacy's illegal in Virginia."

"That why you didn't go to the police?" I demand of them and when they don't answer me, I remind them angrily, "Look, I got all day. Your kid is missing."

"We didn't go to the police because we knew they'd screw things up," Mrs Nelson snaps back at me before continuing, "And you've still got it wrong. Heidi was our friend. We were happy to pay. And she needed the money."

"Then she decided she wanted more."

"This may have been her, but not anymore. She was trying to start over," Mrs Nelson informs me while turning the wrap-sheet around to face me.

"Someone wouldn't let her. Who?!" I yell my demand at her… they are still wasting my time and I don't like it.

"I have no idea! I don't know who has my child!" Mrs Nelson yells back at me before threatening me, "But as far as I'm concerned, if anything happens to my child, you're the one who better run for cover."

…

Alice pov

.

"No satellite coverage of the paper mill," McGee states back in the squad room.

"All right, send it over," Tony orders McGee who is typing away at his computer as I call another hospital… nothing yet but I still hold at hope. but we have already called them before for this case and nothing. Tony is eating another jam donut as he taunts McGee, "Careful over there. Wouldn't want to break a finger."

"Tony, help find this fucking child… or I will break your finger," I hiss at him before the phone is answered again.

"Gibbs does not accept apologies, but I do," Ziva says to Tony as he looks at her without biting the donut yet.

"Hello, this is special agent Todd, from NCIS. Naval criminal investigative services. I am inquiring about any new born babies brought in within the last twenty-four hours with complications from birth," I say into the phone to my latest hospital…

"One second, ma'am. I'll quickly have a look at our records," the nurse promise me before putting me onto hold again.

"I'm sorry, Ziva. I know you were trying to help," Tony says to Ziva while sitting up straight and placing the donut onto his desk.

"Did I?" Ziva asks him.

"I'll get back to you after I shame McGee," Tony informs her as his computer announces a hit on something he is running.

"Did you find something?" McGee asks Tony slowly as Tony slowly types at his computer. There is silence on Tony's end for almost two minutes before he stands up while grabbing the remote for the plasma above my desk.

"I've been compiling a list of Heidi's former marks," Tony informs us what we already know while putting up drivers' license for all of them onto the plasma.

"We've noticed," Ziva comments.

"Anyone of them could have a score to settle. The problem is they all have solid alibis for the day that Heidi was killed, except this guy. Scot Berks," Tony informs us while pulling up the photo of an average looking guy with glasses. Tony continues, "Filed a complain over a pyramid scheme Heidi was running."

"Where does he say he was?" McGee asks him the million dollar question.

"Ah. Well, he doesn't. I haven't found him yet."

"Does not exactly look like a score settler to me," Ziva comments because he looks kind of geeky.

"Mm. no. how about now?" Tony asks while pulling up a photo of the guy with long hair, facial hair, no glasses and a swastika looking tattoo on his neck. Tony continues as I see Abby walking towards us, "A buddy at Baltimore PD just sent this over. Turns out this guy also filed a complaint against Heidi."

"It is the same person," Ziva comments once she has gotten up and walked over to have a closure look at the two men.

"It's called a shill. They're part of the con, but they pose as a customer to try to convince the other marks to jump in. if the con goes bad, they'll often file a complaint so it builds credibility with the other marks. Then they can move in for a secondary con. I used to date this guy once," Abby explains while coming to a stop behind my desk.

"He was Heidi's partner," Ziva releases as my phone goes dead. I slam it down onto the cradle because this is pissing me off… not the first hospital to hang up on me.

"Yeah, and might still be. High five for the traditional police work," Tony gloats while holding his hand up for the high five that is never coming.

"Ahhh, Tony, he's dead. Killed a year ago by one of his marks," McGee informs him what he has found.

"You might want to brush up on the traditional police work," Ziva teases him.

"Hey… do you know where my killer is?!" Gibbs demands angrily as he storms back into the squad room, over to Tony and Ziva, and sees his two agents standing around.

"Gibbs, I don't know where the killer is, but I know what he was planning on doing with Heidi's body," Abby informs him making me hang up the phone I just dialled. Abby grabs Gibbs and my hand before pulling us out of the squad room. She drags us over and into the elevator which we ride down to the garage.

…

"Since the Chevy didn't leave any skid marks at the site of the accident the first thing I did was check the brakes. The line were intact and the fluids were topped off," Abby informs us while lying under the Chevy. She wheels out from underneath the Chevy and Gibbs pulls her back to her feet. He takes the brake pads from her and looks at them.

"The pads were bad. They needed to be replaced," Gibbs summaries what the problem is that Abby found before placing the pad on the table.

"I know, but here's the thing. This is so good, I can hardly take it. The brakes where replaced about two weeks ago. I found metallic shavings in the brake drum and the calliper," Abby explains before kneeling down next to the tyre of the car as she continues, "IT only could have come from new pads and shoes."

"The brakes were replaced and then the old ones were put back on?" I ask her in surprise… that doesn't sound right.

"Yes. The accident was not an accident. Well, actually, it was, it just happened to soon. It was the perfect cover-up. The killer probably planned on putting Heidi's body behind the wheel of the car and sending it over a cliff," Abby informs us while standing back up and walking around to the front of the car with her. Gibbs crosses his arms over his chest while talking to Abby.

"It'd have covered up the murder," Gibbs comments.

"It'd have been blamed on worn brakes. The only problem is the killer cut it to close. The brakes went out and ka-bam. So who would rely on the mechanical failure of a break pad compressed against a disc rotor to hide a body?" Abby asks making Gibbs half smile while I grin… we know who that would be and we have already spoken to him.

…

We all storm into the mechanics shop and into he garage out back where Mr Barns is working on a car.

"Uh-oh," Mr Barns comments as we come to a stop around him so that he can't run. He continues to ask us, "What'd my loser son do now?"

"He killed Heidi Campisano," Gibbs informs him calmly.

"Then tried to ransom her baby back to the biological parents," Ziva adds.

"My boy ain't that cleaver," Mr Barns informs us with a chuckle.

"Guess that's why he needed your help," Tony states while him and Ziva spreads out of the shop.

"Look, I told you he was here with me all day," Mr Barns reminds us.

"Yeah, and your customers confirmed that," McGee informs him.

"But nobody we spoke to saw you," I add calmly.

"But a witness did see you in this Honda near the Stern Paper mill this afternoon," McGee informs him while pointing to the Honda we have been looking for.

"Seems you two are more than just father-and-son mechanics," Ziva comments as Tony removes a shot gun from a barrow with metal polls in it.

"Nice shotgun," Tony comments as he checks it out. He asks, "Shoot any naval petty officers lately?"

"Where's the baby?" Gibbs demands of him.

"I don't know what you're talking about. So, I was at a paper mill. What's that, some kind of a crime?" Mr Barns demands of us while turning back to the car. Gibbs removes his badge and holds it up for Mr Barns to see and when he finally looks at the badge, Gibbs throws it over his shoulder and I almost catch it. I drop it and have to pick it up before sliding it into my pocket.

"Baby!" Gibbs yells at him while getting into his personal space.

"The baby's with Nicky," Mr Barns informs us.

"Any Nicky?" Gibbs demands of him.

"Well, I told him to wait here for me to call, but my moron son never does what he's told!" Mr Barns yells while throwing the tool he is holding into the car he is working on.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs orders his agent.

"BOLO on it, boss," Tony states while dialling his phone.

"That girl of his was never going to give up that baby. I was doing those parents a favour!" Mr Barns hisses at us.

"You're under arrest for the murder of Heidi Campisano," McGee informs MR Barns while arresting him.

"Oh, come on! That was an accident!"

"Petty Officer Munoz, that an accent, too?" I ask him.

"Because his murder is also in our warrant," Ziva informs him.

"Look, when my brakes gave out," Mr Barns begins.

"You mean when you rigged them to go out," Ziva corrects him.

"We know that you replaced Heidi's brakes with a set that were about to fail, and make it look like she died in a crash," McGee explains.

"That little son of a mitch! I'm going to kill him! After all I've done for that little bastard!" Mr Barns yells in surprise as Ziva and McGee leads him away.

"He didn't know the brakes were rigged to fail?" Tony asks in surprise because we didn't see that coming.

"No, he didn't. cancel that BOLO, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders him as he leads us out of the garage.

…

"The London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down, London bridge is falling down, my fair baby," Nicky sings to the baby as Gibbs and I walk into the nursery and holster our guns.. There not need this close to a baby. Nicky leans over and places the sleeping baby into the crib. Nicky asks us sadly, "You got my pa?"

"Yeah," Gibbs answers him softly as not to wake the baby.

"He killed Heidi, made me lie to you about her."

"We know," I promise him.

"She didn't cheat on my. She wasn't bad no more. We were even going to start a family together. Except Heidi couldn't have no kids of her own. She was smart, though. Figured out a way to get one. Guess that part was bad," Nicky explains to us while turning to face us but keeps looking down at the little baby.

"Wish I could tell you it wasn't," Gibbs comments making Nicky fall silent for a moment.

"I would have raised my own boy right. When the baby was born, we were planning to run away, but my pa wanted the rest of the money we were going to get. Heidi and him fought, then she had the baby… my pa took it, she was screaming," Nicky explains through his tears.

"And you didn't do a thing," Gibbs comments as Nicky cries, making me want to pull him into a hug.

"I did… it was just too late to matter."

"The brakes," I state.

"Am I in trouble?" Nicky asks us like a child that took a cookie from the jar.

"Prosecution's going to call it 'attempted murder.' You lawyer's going to call it 'self-defence,'" I inform him while walking closure to him slowly.

"What do you call it?"

"Family," Gibbs asks him.

"Hey boss," Tony says while walking into the room, dripping wet, again. He continues, "Is everything okay? It's the sprinkler again. Parents are waiting outside." Gibbs continues to look at Tony in disbelief. Nicky, Gibbs and I got past the sprinklers but Tony can't. Gibbs walks over to the baby while I hand Tony my gun before walking over to Nicky. I pull him into a hug while Gibbs lifts the baby out of the crib and begins to take him out to the rightful parents.

"You think I'm crazy?" Nicky asks Tony as I release him. Tony walks over with the cuffs.

"No," Tony answers him.

"Tony, I don't think we need that. Nicky, you'll willing go with Tony wouldn't you?" I ask him making him node at me and Tony puts the cuffs away before leading him out and I catch up to Gibbs before he gets to the family. I see a happily little smile grace his face as he walks into the room.

"Here's your baby," Ziva says to the Nelsons.

"Oh, my god!" Mrs Nelson exclaims as she rushes over to Gibbs with a big grin on her face. Gibbs carefully hands her the baby. She continues to say, "Thank you. Thank you." Mrs Nelson talks to her husband as Tony leads the uncuffed Nicky through the room and the Nelsons node to him. Tony is shaking his head out because of the water.

"Hey. Here you go, Tony," McGee calls to him before turning on the fire for Tony making me smile… for once there is a happy ending, the baby lived, Nicky lived, the baby is back to its parents… not bad for a day's work. Tony reads the letter he has been carrying around while Ducky checks the baby over and I laugh with Ziva, McGee and Gibbs. Tony places the letter into the fire carefully like he has made the decision… I just hope it's the right one. That it wouldn't hurt him more. Tony walks over and joins us as a team, joining in on the joking and smiles.

…

"Jethro, what are you doing?" I ask him as I walk down into the basement to see him standing at the workbench, standing still like he is thinking about something. At the sound of my voice he jumps in surprise making me blink because no one can scare Gibbs. He spins around to face me with a guilty look on his face.

"Nothing," Gibbs lie while looking guilty.

"I don't believe that," I inform him as I walk over to him and attempt to see what had his attention but I can't see anything that would have held his attention.

"It's nothing baby," Gibbs lies while pulling me into a backwards hug… I want to know what he is hiding from me but I don't think he is going to tell me at this point in time. He continues to change the subject, "Where you looking for me for a reason?"

"Not really. Was coming down to watch you not get anywhere with the boat," I inform him calmly.

"What's on your mind?" Gibbs asks me while placing a kiss on my head.

"How could a father kill a mother for money?" I ask him in confusion because that still confuses me.

"A bad one… who only wants money," Gibbs informs me while rocking me side to side slightly.

"At least the baby is okay," I mumble as I think about Gibbs holding that baby… he looked happy.

"Mm-hmm… good ending," Gibbs informs me as he drops his head and kisses my neck softly.


	4. Date Night ()

I wake up to see that Gibbs is gone, not that surprises me anymore. I roll out of bed and stand up to see a note on my bedside table. I pick it up and look it over, I immediately recognise Gibbs' hand writing.

'Baby,

Be ready by six thirty tonight

I'm taking you out

Jethro.'

I read the letter and begin to smile, as I finger the letter for a moment before checking my what to see that it is ten in the morning and I have most of the day to waste before the date. I walk into the bathroom and have a shower, making sure to shave everything for our date tonight.

Once I am completely clean, I put on one of Gibbs shirts and underwear before walking down into the kitchen to see what I can eat. I find some day or two old pizza, which I throw into the microwave to heat it up to eat. I sit in front of the TV that isn't on, and eat the food while trying to work out what Jethro has planned this time.

Once I finish eating, I pick up my phone and ring the two people who could help me with getting ready for my date.

…

At three o'clock, I head up into the master bed room and begin to look for a dress to where while not knowing what Jethro has planned, and I haven't seen him all day. In the end I pick the red dress. It has a strip of fabric across my neck, another one across my breasts only really covering my nipples, and one across halfway down my stomach, in the middle of the fabric is a little sparkly button, holding the fabric together, so that what is covering between my breasts a little bit of fabric smaller then my fingers. The skirt of the ends just below my ass. There is a knock at the door making me grab my bathrobe and put it on as I walk down to the door and open it.

"Hey," I greet Abby and Mrs Mallard who are here to help me get ready.

"Hey," Abby greets me as she walks into the room.

"Who are you?" Mrs Mallard asks me making me laugh.

"Alice, Ducky's daughter," I remind her with a grin while allowing her into the house and taking her coat to hang it up on the coat hook.

"Do you know where Gibbs is taking you?" Abby asks me with a grin as I lead them up into the master bed room so that they can help.

"Don't know, all I have is this note," I inform her while handing them the not off of the dresser where I placed it.

"Mysterious… just like Gibbs," Abby informs me while pointing so I sit on the bed with my back to the edge.

"What is that?" Mrs Mallard asks as Ugly Tony the second jumps onto the bed and snuggles up into my lap.

"This is my dog-rat-thing… she's ugly but harmless," I inform her while rubbing Tony's belly.

"Have you seen my dogs?" Mrs Mallard asks me as she picks up the brush and begins to do my hair.

"Yes, they are very pretty," I answer her as Abby climbs onto the bed with me and begins to do my makeup. Mrs Mallard does my hair into tight curls making it look almost half its length. Abby does my makeup into perfection like only she can.

…

Gibbs arrives home to pick me up at six thirty sharp. He is wearing suit and tie, with a scarf around his neck inside his dress overcoat. He smirks when he sees my dress while grabbing my coat for me.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you where trying to get into my pants," Gibbs teases me while helping me into the coat making me duck my head while attempting to hide my blush. Gibbs places his finger under my chin and raise my face so he can see it and gently leans down and kisses me on the lips. He breaks the kiss before it gets heated but it is full of love. He gently buttons my coat for me.

"Where are we going, Jethro?" I ask him excitedly while grabbing at his arm.

"It's a surprise," Gibbs informs me while grabbing my hand and leading me out of the house, towards his truck.

"But Jethro, I don't like surprises," I whine at him while following him to the truck.

"You'll enjoy this one," Gibbs promises me.

"But I want to know now," I complain as Gibbs opens the truck door for me.

"Alice, stop complaining and get into the car," Gibbs informs me but he is smirking at me. I step up into the truck and Gibbs leans onto the chair beside me.

"Can I have a hint?" I ask him hopefully.

"Its something fun and romantic," Gibbs informs me before shutting the door and walking around to the driver's side and getting in. He grabs a blind fold off the dash and places it over my eyes.

"Jethro," I whine but I am smiling and excited about what he has planned.

"It's a surprise. But you will enjoy it," Gibbs promise me while beginning to drive. Gibbs rest one of his hands on my leg as we drive to the location in silence.

"Where here," Gibbs informs me as he stops the car after almost half an hour of driving in mostly silence.

"Can I take this blindfold off yet?" I ask him hopefully.

"Not yet, baby," Gibbs informs m while reaching over and unclipping me. He gently pulls me over on the bench chair so I am leaning against his side. He then removes my blindfold, showing me that we are at a drive in and the ads are starting.

"What are we watching, Jethro?" I ask him.

"Mary Poppins," Gibbs answers me making me clap my hands together. Gibbs reaches under his chair and pulls out a bag of food to eat while watching the move.

"Thank you, Jethro," I thank him while placing a kiss on his check before snuggling into his chest.

"Your welcome, baby," Gibbs promise me while placing a kiss on the top of my head and wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

…

()

"That was fun, Jethro. Thank you," I say to Gibbs as we walk through the front door.

"It was my pleasure," Gibbs informs me.

"Let me show you just how much I appreciated you doing this for me," I say with a smirk.

"Yeah? How you gonna do that?" Gibbs asks me with a smirk of his own while grabbing my hips as I grab the labels of his coat.

"I'm sure I can think of something," I promise him. I step closure while leaning up and placing a kiss on his lip. Gibbs tightens his grip on my hips while gently licking my bottom lips. I don't open my mouth for him, making Gibbs move his right hand down to my ass and squeeze it, making me gasp in surprise and Gibbs uses that moment to deepen the kiss.

Gibbs continues to dominate my mouth while backing me into the wall next to the door. Gibbs brings his second hand up off of my hip to my breast which he fondles through the dress I am wearing. I run my hands up over his shoulder and run my left hand through Gibbs hair. Gibbs breaks the kiss making me look at him through hooded eyes, as I look at him. Gibbs smirks at me before kissing down my throat and stopping onto of my pulse point where he sucks on it.

"Jethro," I moan as I rub thighs together to get some friction.

"You like that, baby?" Gibbs teases me before gently biting it making me moan louder.

"Jethro," I gasp out as Gibbs slides one of his thighs between mine. I grind down onto Gibbs thighs as Gibbs lowers his head down to my breast where he begins to nibble on them. Gibbs pulls my dress strap down so that he can suck on my right nipple making me gasp in pleasure.

"You like that?" Gibbs asks me.

"Jethro, please," I beg of him as I grind against his leg. Gibbs latches onto the other breast while holding my hips tightly.

"Let's take this up to the bedroom. Baby," Gibbs orders me while stepping away from me slightly.

"Mm-hmm, that's a good idea," I agree with him as I gasp while trying to get my body back under my control.

"Come on, baby," Gibbs orders me while grabbing my hand and pulling me into the direction of the bedroom but makes sure I am in front of him so that he is staring at my ass as I walk up the stairs. I walk into the bedroom and Gibbs grabs me around my waist and pulls me back into his body showing me that he is just as excited as I am. He continues to kiss me neck and suck on the spot, darkening his mark on my neck.

"Jethro," I moan before turning around to face Gibbs.

"Yes, baby?" Gibbs asks me.

"I love you," I inform him as I begin to unbutton his shirt. Once it is fully unbuttoned I push it off his shoulder with his coat, scarf and tie. I gently lean into Gibbs chest and place a kiss on his collar bone and begin to gently nibble on them making Gibbs groan while gripping my hips tightly.

"Alice, baby… I," Gibbs gasp out a couple of times but never finishes what he is going to say. Gibbs begins to move me backwards until my body hit the bed. I remove my mouth from Gibbs body and climb into my pillow fort and watching as Gibbs palms his crutch before joining me on the bed. I lean up and kiss him heatedly while pulling on his hair slightly making him moan in pleasure before breaking the kiss.

"Alice, why don't we get you out of this scrap of clothing?" Gibbs asks me while playing with the strap of clothing that is meant to be across my breast. Gibbs reaches behind me and unzips my dress. He pulls the dress up over my head and drops it on the ground with a gasp.

"You not wearing any underwear," Gibbs gasps out while running his hand over my naked hips.

"And your wearing too much clothing," I add with a gasp when Gibbs lightly runs his fingers over my pussy lips without really touching them and I grab the top of that arm while gripping the sheet with my other hand.

"Is that so?" Gibbs asks me while running his finger over my lower lips again.

"Jethro," I gasp out while thrusting up into his hand but he moves his hand away from my pussy.

"What? You want something, baby?" Gibbs teases me while holding my hips down for a second before running his fingers over my pussy again, but I got the message, don't move or he stops.

"Yes," I gasp out while attempting to get him to touch me properly.

"What do you what?" Gibbs teases me while kissing my neck.

"Jethro, please?" I beg of him.

"Baby, tell me what you want and you get it… but I'm not a mind reader," Gibbs informs me while kissing me on the lips.

"Please, touch me… please," I beg of him.

"Touch you how? With my fingers?" Gibbs whispers into my ear while gently flicking my clitoris with his finger making me moan in pleasure. He continues, "With my cock." Gibbs rolls his hips so that I feel his boner against my hip making my breathe catch in my throat. He then asks me, "Or my mouth?"

"Jethro, please," I beg of him.

"Which one?" Gibbs asks me.

"Your… cock," I gasp out, making Gibbs hum but instead of removing his pants he slides down my body so his face is leave with my pussy.

"I think I'll taste it first," Gibbs informs me before gently licking my pussy while using his left arm to hold my hips down. I gasp in pleasure while reaching down and grabbing his head, holding him in place. Gibbs sucks my clitoris into his mouth while sliding two of his fingers into my making me moan in pleasure.

"Jethro," I gasp out in heighten pleasure.

"Mm-hmm," Gibbs hums against my pussy making me gasp in pleasure at the feeling.

"Jethro," I gasp out in pleasure as I climb that hill. I look down to see Gibbs between my legs, and I see that Gibbs is already looking up at me.

"Cum for me, baby," Gibbs orders me before returning his mouth to my clitoris.

"Jethro," I gasp out as I cum all over his face making Gibbs smirk as he climbs back up my body and pick up some tissues which he uses to clean his face before planting a kiss on my lips.

"You alright baby?" Gibbs asks me with a proud smirk as I gasp at him and look very dazed.

"Mm-hmm," I mumble while blinking at the overly proud man.

"Are you alright?" Gibbs asks me again while rubbing my hair gently, allowing me a moment to calm down.

"Yeah… I… your too good at that," I fake complain before placing a kiss on his chest.

"Thank you," Gibbs informs me with a smirk before leaning down and kissing me while weaving his hand into my hair, holding my head to his. I continue to kiss him while slowly running my hand down his body until I get to his hard cock that is locked in his pants still. I begin to stroke him through his pants making Gibbs breaks the kiss to moan while thrusting into my hand.

"I think we need to take care of your friend here," I whisper to Gibbs while rolling onto my side before kneeling up onto my knees and gently undo Gibbs pants before pulling them down and dropping them onto the floor and then make a load bang like there is something in one of the pockets but I don't think about it for a moment.

"Come here, baby," Gibbs orders me while pulling me to lay next to him.

"Jethro, I want to try to something… if that is okay?" I ask him shyly.

"Of course baby," Gibbs says to me while smiling at me as he grabs my hand.

"Can… can you… um, lay down?" I ask him shyly with a blush.

"Of course baby," Gibbs says to me as he lays down onto my pillow fort. Once he is settled, I hesitate for a second, making Gibbs add, "Are you alright, baby? You don't have to do something just because someone told you to try it."

"I want to… but I don't want to do it wrong," I enlighten him shyly.

"Alice, if it doesn't feel right, we can always try something else," Gibbs informs me, making me node before gently straddling Gibbs groin. Gibbs grabs my hips to help me stay balanced. I reach down and grip Gibbs cock into my hand and gently stroke it a couple of times before lining it up with my opening and begin to lower myself onto it making us both moan.

"Alice, baby. That… you feel," Gibbs gasp out while gripping my hips tightly as I rest my hands on his stomach to hold my balance. I begin to move up and down Gibbs cock slowly, making us both gap in pleasure. Gibbs moves one hand from my hip, up to my breast while he gently pinches making me moan in pleasure.

"Jethro," I moan as I reach down and begin to finger my clitoris, making me moan as my walls tighten around Gibbs cock. Every time I tighten around him, Gibbs moan and grip my hip tighter.

"Alice, baby. You have to cum… I'm not going to last," Gibbs orders me, making me moan as I gasp in pleasure and bounce on his cock faster. Gibbs knock my hand out of the way to rub my clitoris himself making me gasp and lean over in pleasure.

"Jethro," I gasp out as I cum, coming to a stop with my movements but Gibbs grabs my hips and begins to move me up and down his cock quickly, chasing his own climates. He groans out in pleasure as he thrust inside me and holds me against his waist while coating my insides with his warm cum. I collapses against Gibbs chest as he wraps his arms around me, as we gasp for air.

"I love you, baby," Gibbs whispers against my hair as I fall asleep against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.


	5. Ex-Files

"Good morning," Gibbs greets Ziva as she walks into the squad room. She quickly removes the earphones out of her ears making him repeat, "Good morning." Gibbs is wearing a white shirt under his black polo again with pale blue jeans.

"Good morning, Gibbs," Ziva greets him now that she can hear.

"Morning, bitch," I greet her as Abby runs into the squad room.

"Did you get it?" Abby asks Gibbs while running over to his desk.

"It?" Gibbs asks her in confusion. But instead of answering him she runs behind the desk and opens his top drawer of his desk making him exclaim, "Abby?"

"I put this year's tax refund to good use. I got one for everybody on team Gibbs," Abby explains while grabbing the wrapped up MP3 player out of the drawer next to his personal camera and opening it for Gibbs.

"Luck be a lady tonight. Luck, if you've ever been a lady to begin with. Luck be a," Tony sings badly as he bounces into the squad room but Ziva signals for him to stop singing while Gibbs gives him that look. He takes the head phones out of his ears while greeting Gibbs, "Hey boss. Sorry about that. Sinatra, you got to sing along. I mean, it's old blue eyes. It's the chairman of the board. I'm gonna rat pack it up." Gibbs looks at Abby who looks very proud of herself like normal. Gibbs gets up and walks over to McGee who is listening to his own MP3 player. Gibbs leads down onto the desk and stares at McGee.

"MIT lecture. Nothing I can't listen to on my own time," McGee informs him while putting the MP3 player away.

"It's the newest version, Gibbs. It's one hundred and sixty gigabytes. You could download like forty thousand songs," Abby informs Gibbs while following him back from McGee's desk to his own where he sits down.

"I only listen to five, Abby," Gibbs informs her while beginning to read the file he needs to sign.

"Five thousand?" Abby asks him in confusion.

"No. Five," Gibbs corrects her while looking at her so that she will understand what he is saying.

"Oh, Gibbs. We really have to broaden your horizons… Alice, help me," Abby begs of me making me laugh.

"Nope… why would I help someone?" I ask her while ignoring the MP3 player on my desk that is loading the music I like listening too.

"I could download some of my music for you," Abby begins as Gibbs land line begins ringing.

"Gibbs," Gibbs answers the phone while looking at his computer.

"Like Android Lust or Flesh-eating foundation, green Satan, or suicide commando," Abby offers him making me laugh… I can't see Gibbs willingly listening to any of them.

"Dead marine," Gibbs informs us after hanging up the phone and getting up. We all get up and grab our gear to go to the crime scene.

"Never heard of 'em," Abby informs him.

"He means we have a dead marine… and a killer to catch. Where?" I inform her as I throw the bag over my shoulder.

"Fort Belvoir Army base," Gibbs answers me while we leave.

"Thanks Abs… but it's Jethro, he doesn't do technology. At all," I remind her as I follow him out of the squad room, leaving Abby alone again.

…

"Good morning, Jethro," Mann greets Gibbs when we arrive at the crime scene. Gibbs and I are leaning against the railing of the veranda of the crime scene while Mann is in Gibbs personal space.

"Busy morning," Gibbs corrects her.

"You work for me on this one, Jethro. It's my army base and my crime scene," Mann informs him.

"And our people. Our office. Our resources to close the case. Not to waste on getting the guy, which you failed at," I remind her making her throw an annoyed look at me but I don't really care what she thinks about me. I don't back down and continue to hold her stare without breaking and in the end it is Mann who looks away to the NCIS van where McGee is peeking throw the window at us. We wait for the team to catch up and then I order Mann, "Take us to OUR victim… so that WE can solve OUR case. And get rid of you, for good… hopefully."

"Alice, play nice," Gibbs whispers the order into my ear as Mann glares at me before turning and walking into the house. Throw to the living room that as a computer and a dead guy sitting there with a spear through his chest.

"Marine Captain Trent Reynolds. Worked for the defence intelligence agency on an interagency task force. His wide found him last night when she got back from a convention in Charlottesville," Mann informs us while walking us into the room and Tony, McGee and Ziva begin processing the crime scene.

"Why wouldn't we called in last night?" I demand of her as Gibbs walks over to the victim and leans down looking at his face… if he was found last night, we should have been called in last night.

"Where's the wife?" Gibbs asks Mann when it becomes apparent she isn't going to answer my question.

"Mother's house," Mann answers him making me want to shoot her, if she can answer Gibbs, she can answer me.

"How long has he been… stuck here?" McGee asks after a moment of hesitation.

"Only the dead know the true meaning of patience, Timothy. No more places to go, people to see. Except me, of course. Colonel, Jethro. So… to whom do I report?" Ducky asks while walking into the crime scene with his ME bag.

"Her," Gibbs answers him.

"Me," Mann overlaps Gibbs while Gibbs moves away from the victim.

"Better get used to that," Tony laughs making him turn around to see Mann is staring at him while I am smirking.

"For the moment… but she might just do a Fornell.. and comment suicide in FBI custody, while in the middle of the case," I inform Ducky with a face smile.

"Alice, you can't get that lucky, twice in one lifetime. Though, I once knew this guy that," Ducky begins to ramble making me smirk because he can't for the life of him keep his stories out of the case.

"Spearguns. Pretty cool. Thunder ball. Very James Bond…. Boss… ma'am… colonel," Tony continues to dig a hold for himself.

"Tony, should have shut up when I gave you an out," I inform him while looking the fake smile in favour of shaking my head at the idiot I work with.

"Captain Reynolds was a recreational diver," Mann informs him.

"And when where you planning on informing us of that?" I demand of her making Gibbs give me a look at always says play nice or else… but I do enjoy the or else.

"Burglary?" Gibbs asks Mann as I walk over to him with her following me.

"Well, the back door was jimmied, bit the wallet and cash were still on him, and the wife doesn't think that anything's missing," Mann whispers to him like she doesn't want his team to know the information that she has… like that wouldn't help move the case in the correct direction of investigation. While she is talking Gibbs turns and faces her while leaning on the door between the kitchen and the crime scene. She opens her note book while calling out, "Doctor Mallard, you got anything?"

"You do realize I arrived about a minute ago. The dead speak to me, colonel, but give the poor man time to catch his breath, so to speak," Ducky lectures her while looking the victim over.

"Dad, she doesn't care about that… she needs to arrest the wrong person so that she can climb that latter without skinning her knees. But then blame us when it's an innocent drug dealer instead of a terrorist," I inform him while fake smiling at Mann.

"Time of death: between seven and nine pm," Ducky informs us as Gibbs phone begins to ring.

"Yeah, give," Gibbs answers the phone while walking away.

"Tony, review the witness statements," Mann orders Gibbs team like they're her own… she doesn't even have a team, let alone one as close knit as Gibbs.

"Yes, boss. Ma'am… colonel," Tony says while placing his foot back into his mouth, he salutes her with his final correction as he leaves the crime scene.

"Ziva…"

"I will check Captain Reynolds' phone and bank records," Ziva promise her while walking off to do that.

"Agent McGee, see if you can pull some prints off the back door," Mann orders him.

"Yes, ma'am," McGee says while leaving to do as he was told.

"What do you normally do, Agent Todd?" Mann asks me smartly because she doesn't have something for me not to do.

"Um… get the case all to ourselves without having to service the entire alphabet soup… but that didn't work out for you when you wasted valuable time and resources to attempt to fuck my man… now did it?" I ask her in a sickeningly sweet voice but before she can respond to me and my accusations of her career, Gibbs returns to us.

"Do you know a major Sweigart?" Gibbs asks her while coming to a stop right behind me, placing his hand on my hip in a silent warning that I am defiantly going to ignore this time.

…

"Major Sweigart was captain Reynolds' superior at defences intelligence. He understands the army CID and NCIS will be working hand in hand on this case. I mean… side-by-side… cooperatively," Shepard informs us in her office with Mann, a couple of DIA agents, Gibbs and me… but I don't think this is going to end how she wants it to.

"You've taken Captain Reynolds' laptop. I want it back," Major Sweigart demand of Shepard… I hope she doesn't do her normal trick and fold like a house of cards.

"That's evidence, Major," Mann informs him.

"DIA deals with highly classified material, ma'am."

"And we have top secret clearance."

"I'm talking about special access programs which go well beyond your clearance."

"Black ops?" Gibbs asks them making me smirk, this is the CIA and froggy all over again… I do hope froggy got away from Shepard before she tracked him down and killed him but I don't hold out hope on that.

"Major Sweigart, these are your options, either read in our forensic scientist to your special access programs or send someone who can oversee her work," Shepard orders him, for once standing up for her team but I think it's more for Mann than NCIS.

"Send someone over from cyber," Sweigart orders his officer that is standing behind him.

"Yes, sir," The officer responds to him.

"Any thoughts on who might have wanted to kill Captain Reynolds?" Mann asks him while slowly taking two steps closure to him.

"He got along with everyone at work," Sweigart answers her.

"What about his personal life?"

"Other than the usual command dinners I didn't really know Captain Reynolds on a person basis," Sweigart informs her.

"You, lieutenant?" I ask him when he looks sadder and guiltier then his boss.

"We played some pickup basketball together. That's about it… I think he spent his free time with his wife," the lieutenant answers me.

"Why?" Gibbs asks him.

"Because he was always rushing home to be with her," the lieutenant answers him making Mann turn and face Gibbs.

…

"Make him go away, McGee," Abby begs of McGee who showed the DIA cyber guy, Fred Rinnert, down to the lab where I was talking to her. it's been too long since Abby and I just talked without someone trying to kill us. I am standing next to Abby with my arm around her shoulder and staring at this DIA cyber guy… if this guy hurts MY Abby, I am going to kill Shepard for putting her into this position again.

"Abby, I can't," McGee informs her making Abby lean onto my shoulder to look at the guy again.

"Look at him. I feel blocked. I can't work when I'm blocked," Abby informs us while crossing her arms tighter.

"Well, then just block him out."

"What?"

"You block him out. He's not there. Say it," McGee informs her.

"He's not there. He's still there," Abby informs McGee while watching the guy pick something up off her desk.

"Close your eyes, open them, and imagine him gone," McGee orders her while walking around behind her. she tightly shuts his eyes and then opens them to see Fred waving at her.

"Didn't work."

"Try it again," McGee orders her making Abby close her eyes.

"He's not there. He's not there," Abby says but when she opens them again, Fred is still there. She informs us, "Still not working, McGee. McGee?"

"You imagined away the wrong computer nerd," I laugh at Abby when we see McGee is gone. Abby gives me a helpless look. "Sorry, Abby. Out of my hands and if I keep undermining Shepard's pretend authority, she might just fire me… I have to get back to work, but you have guns in the vault, if he does something bad, shoot him and Mann or Shepard can to the paperwork for it," I inform her before leaving out of the same door as McGee.

…

"Try the return key," Mann orders Gibbs as he types at McGee's computer that he is leaning over the desk but it doesn't seem to work.

"This one?" Gibbs asks her while hitting a button as I glare at her, she is too close to my boyfriend.

"Well… here, let me," Mann orders him while attempting to take over from him.

"No, I got it," Gibbs informs her.

"No, I don't think you do," Mann informs her.

"I got it," Gibbs informs her but she forces him out of the while flirting with him and touching his stomach making me glare at her.

"No. I don't think you do. Sometimes it takes a soft touch, okay," Mann flirts with him before turning around and hitting the tab button but it only brings up, 'are you sure you want to delete this search?' She softly hits the button for no while saying, "No. NO." but it doesn't work so she hits it harder but it still doesn't work.

"No, no, no," McGee yells while running over and moving Mann away from the computer.

"Prints from Reynolds; door scored a match, but your computer's a little," Mann begins to defend herself but is she's not careful, I will be the one defending myself, to the FBI for murder… and this one will have the correct agent.

"IT's linked to Abby's lab. It's perfectly fine, Colonel," McGee informs her making me laugh at her stupidity.

"Guess where more High-Tec that you… but that's to be expected when the only way you can get layed is by doing an in-depth background check on the guy you like, and failed to get. Also can't tell the difference between a terrorists and a drug dealer," I tease Mann with the hopes that she will leave but she just glares at me as Gibbs gets up and walks over to where I am standing in front of my desk while McGee puts the information onto the plasma screen above my desk. I turn around and look at the person's file while Gibbs comes to a stop behind me, resting his hand on my hip softly.

"Which is more than can be said for Major Sweigart," Gibbs comments because it is Major Sweigart's fingerprints that we matched.

…

"I dropped off some documents to Captain Reynolds a couple of weeks ago," Sweigart informs us in his office. Mann is sitting right in front of the desk with Sweigart behind it, Gibbs is sitting in a rolling office chair next to the door and I am leaning on the wall behind Gibbs. There is another soldier in the room waiting for Sweigart to finish with eh paperwork he was working on when we entered.

"And you left via the back door?" Mann asks him as Gibbs picks up a photo, I lean down onto his shoulder, looking at a photo of Major Sweigart and another man dressed in full diving gear with spears and fish.

"His wife was having friends around. I didn't want to disturb them," Sweigart defends himself while handing the paperwork to the soldier making him leave the room.

"Mrs Reynolds can verify that you were at the house?"

"Don't know. Guess you'll have to ask her, ma'am."

"Means you saw what was hanging in his office," Gibbs comments making Mann turn around to face him.

"Sorry."

"Know how to use it. You look pretty handy with that speargun," I comment while pointing to the photo as Gibbs gets up and begins to walk around.

"Well, picture's worth a thousand words to a jury," Mann comment while getting up and walking over to pick up the photo as Gibbs steps half out of the office looking around the building from the doorway.

"Yeah, or just one: Guilty," Gibbs informs her.

"Lots of guys dive," Sweigart informs us. He continues, "Look, colonel, I was with someone last night. A date."

"He got a name?" I ask him while walking halfway to his desk and the door, without caring that I might hurt his feeling, I am over this case and Mann.

"We went to dinner."

"Name," Gibbs demands while walking up beside me.

"Stephanie Flynn," Sweigart informs him making Gibbs through his head back in surprise. I slowly reach out and grab his hand in silent support… it's been a while since I've seen that look on his face, and I don't like it.

"The woman who was with Mrs Reynolds when she found him dead?" Mann asks him without even releasing that Gibbs is in shock.

"That's right."

"Stephanie Bronwyn Flynn?" Gibbs demands of him while releasing my hand and storming up to the edge of the desk.

"Yeah."

"You know her?" Mann asks him while walking up to him and I follow her. Gibbs turns away from Sweigart and grabs me hand softly.

"Ah-hu... I was married to her," Gibbs whispers to us making me blink.

"IS she the one who married Fornell?" I ask him straight up as him because I am not dealing with the woman.

"No," Gibbs answers back without hesitation.

"Okay then."

…

"We have… have a little issue," Mann reports to Shepard as we stand around in her office I am standing to the right of Gibbs while Mann is to his left in front of Shepard's desk.

"We?" Mann asks her.

"You, you want to tell her, Agent Gibbs?" Mann asks him.

"No, not particularly," Gibbs answers her.

"I don't know why were even in here _Holly_ it has nothing to do with the madam director whore. We can take care of it our self," I snap at her while glaring at because she made us come here because 'it's the thing we have to do.'

"ID this issue going to involve lawyers?" Shepard asks Mann.

"IT already did," Mann informs her making me glare at her, this has nothing to do with Shepard or Mann for that matter it has to do with Gibbs and what Gibbs wants to do with his ex-wife. He doesn't have to be the one to talk to her, there are four other, reliable, agents that can do it. Shepard gives Mann a confused look making me roll my eyes as Mann informs her, "IT's his ex-wife. She's a material witness."

"And which ex would that be?"

"Stephanie," Gibbs answers her.

"What number is she again?"

"What the fuck does it matter? You don't need to know everything about Jethro's life just because you once fucked him and then fucked him over for your own person reason… you know being a psychopath," I snap at her making Gibbs grab and gently squeeze my hand in warning at going of the director too much.

"Second?" Shepard taunts Gibbs with the incorrect facts, like normal.

"Third," Gibbs corrects her.

"Oh, right. You lived in Europe with her for a while, Frankfurt," Shepard continues making Mann smirk.

"Moscow."

"Two years?"

"One… if you're going to pretend you know anything about him but for how to fuck him over, the least you could do is have the correct facts… but that's not something you could every do… being fully informed that is, not-not fucking people over for your own personal amusement and career improvements… or to find a new gilt o fuck until she needs you and then abandoned her… but that seems to be your pattern… like I said psychopath," I snap at her in annoyance.

"Well, it's hard to live in Moscow… with anyone?" Shepard tease him. She turns to Mann and asks, "Do you think he should divorce himself from this case, Colonel Mann?"

"LISTEN HERE, YOU LITTLE, ENTITLED BITCH, THE ONLY PERSON THAT IS LEAVING THIS CASE ALONE IS YOU… AND MANN… JETHRO ISN'T LEAVING THIS CASE AND EVEN IF YOU THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA IN YOUR FUCKING PIN HEAD, I AM NOT LEAVING AND YOU WILL WANT HIM ON THE CASE TO STOP ME. SO DON'T THINK JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE FUCKING ALL COSY WITH THE BITCH THAT WANTS TO FUCK MY MAN, THAT YOU HAVE ANY SAY IN THIS… WE ARE ONLY TELLING YOU BECAUSE HOLLY LIKES FUCKING YOU, BUT THAT IS ALL… IF IT WAS UP TO JETHRO AND ME, YOU WOULDN'T KNOW BECAUSE EVERY TIME YOU HEAR ABOUT ANYTHING IN JETHRO'S TEAM, YOU RIDE HIS ASS ABOUT CLOSING IT WHILE YELLING AT HIS TEAM FOR FUCKING GETTING A LEAD WHEN YOU ARE FUCKING FLIRTING WITH HIM…. AND THEN YOU JUST HAND IT OVER TO THE OTHER AGENCIES FOR A SIMPLY COCK IN YOUR ASS," I yell at Shepard while slamming my hands down onto her table making her jump in fear, I am not letting her fuck with us anymore… she wants to tease my man, I will and am putting her into her place, the boss not the wife…

"I don't see a problem if you conduct the interview, Mann," Shepard stutters out in fear of my for once in her life. She turns to Gibbs and asks him, "Do you have a problem with Colonel Mann interviewing your ex-wife, Agent Gibbs?"

"Do I have a choice?" Gibbs asks her while resting a hand on my back as I continue to glare at both women.

"No," Mann and Shepard answers him together.

"Problem solved," Shepard informs us happily but there is fear in her eyes with the madness for the frog… but that has gone away a long way and I want to know why she knows he isn't coming back? What did she do you froggy? I liked froggy.

…

"What time did Major Sweigart arrive at you apartment?" Mann questions Stephanie in integration one. I am in integration with Tony and Ziva watching what is happening encase Mann decides to endanger this case for her own personal gain… or at least that's the reason I tell myself.

"About six thirty," Stephanie answers her. She is wearing a very lowcut shirt and siting in the chair with one arm crossed her stomach and the other resting on it and just in front of her chin, while Mann is pacing the room.

"And leave?"

"About ten," Stephanie answers before asking her own question, "Where's Gibbs? I know you know he's my ex."

"He's busy," Mann lies.

"Some things never change."

"Who do you think is prettier? Ex-wife number three or future murder victim?" Tony asks Ziva.

"Colonel Mann is at a disadvantage because of her uniform," Ziva informs him making Tony get his thinking-pervert face on, making her add, "Tell me you are not trying to imagine her without her uniform, Tony."

"How long have you known Agent Gibbs… Major Sweigart?" Mann demands of Stephanie while accidently saying the wrong man but that is the only one she seems to care about anyway.

"Eight months. Known Gibbs longer," Stephanie answers her.

"Wedding bells?"

"I know how this works. You're implying because I love Eric, I'm lying for him."

"Are you?"

"He's watching, isn't he?" Stephanie asks Mann while laughing and pointing at the mirror I am standing behind. She gets up and walks over to the mirror, placing her hands on the mirror and even knocking on the glass while yelling, "IF you're going to have me interrogated, Jethro, at least do it yourself… come on… you never could talk to me, could you? Then, that was then, this is now, so just… get the hell in here!"

"Feisty," Tony comments as Gibbs steps out of the dark into the light so that we can see him in the mirror standing behind me with a half-smile on his face. Making tony add, "In an unattractive kind of way. Got zip at fort Belvoir, boss."

"Captain Reynolds got along with everyone," Ziva continues to reports as Gibbs loses his smile.

"No one heard a thing last night," Tony informs him with a fearful look on his face. When Gibbs still doesn't say anything he adds, "I'm going to check those phone records."

"I am going to help him," Ziva adds while quickly following Tony out of the room. Gibbs steps up behind me so that his chest his pressed against my back and he wraps his arms around me loosely.

…

"Does it really matter what I made for dinner?" Stephanie asks Mann as they sit across from each other, Mann has her body sideways on the chair, while Stephanie is leaning heavily on the table. Mann continues to stare at her making her inform her, "Uh… chicken piccata, slightly overdone, steamed vegetables, slightly underdone, served with a chardonnay that was just right."

"Did he appear at all agitated?" Mann asks but Stephanie answers before she even finishes the question.

"No. You having fun, Jethro?"

"Still decaf?" Gibbs asks Stephanie as I open the door so that he can carry two cups of pipping hot coffee into his ex-wife. Gibbs places one in front of Stephanie and hands me the other one.

"Thanks," I say while taking a sip of the coffee.

"We need to talk," Stephanie informs Gibbs while standing up.

"The colonel's conducting the interview," Gibbs informs her.

"I'm done," Mann informs him while getting up and walking over to the mirror as Gibbs leads Stephanie over to the door where I have returned to.

"Why are you targeting my boyfriend?" Stephanie demands of him.

"Why does everyone think NCIS targets people?" I softly asks Gibbs because that is beginning to get on my last never, right along with Shepard and Mann.

"You couldn't make me happy, so you won't let me be happy with someone else, is that it?" Stephanie accuses Gibbs.

"No," Gibbs answers her.

"Then what are you doing?"

"What I've always had to do, Stephanie, my job," Gibbs informs her while turning to leave and pull the door shut behind him.

"Can we at least finish one conversation?" Stephanie demands of Gibbs while grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving her… which has already happen in court.

"I'm starting to feel like I'm married," Gibbs complains while getting back into her personal space and placing me behind his body.

"That's funny. I never felt like we were ever married," Stephanie insults Gibbs while crossing her arms making me grab the back of his jacket so that I don't punch her. She continues, "Look, Eric didn't do this and I don't know what evidence you've got that makes you think he did, but you're wrong… just don't screw this up for me, Jethro."

"It's not about you," Gibbs informs her that this case or the world doesn't revolve around her… he sure has a type, self-centred bitched that couldn't see a lead in the case if it was inside them… which means I must be like that too because he's dating me.

"Well, it was never about me, was it?" Stephanie demands of him.

"Boss?" McGee asks making Gibbs turn to face him. He continues to inform Gibbs, "Abby need to see us."

"Uh," Gibbs says while half nodding his head.

"I'm just gonna," Mann informs Gibbs while leaving the integration room.

"I'm happy you found somebody," Gibbs whispers to Stephanie.

"You know what I find interesting, _Stephanie_ , it's that you think Gibbs is still hooked on you, but every year on your anniversary, you are the one that gets drunk off your ass and you are the one that repeated calls him… but no, he's the one that doesn't want you to be happy, it's not like you cost him relationships because of those calls. FYI, you did… I'll send an agent down to escort you out of the building," I inform her before mumbling, "If only it was that easy with Fornell and Mann." Gibbs lets me leave the room first before following me out and shutting the door.

"Cyber guy here yet?" Gibbs demands of McGee as we walk down the hallway as a group.

"Yeah, in with Abby," McGee informs him. Making Gibbs turn and give him a look and McGee add, "She'll be find."

"Yeah, but how much paperwork is she going to make us have to do? I still haven't finished the paperwork from when she duct taped chip," I complain.

…

"…And you say this?" Abby asks Fred as we walk into the lab.

"Saw what, Abs?" Gibbs asks her while walking over to her.

"A death ritual that would make your hair stand up on end," Abby explains as Gibbs comes to a stop in front of her, she continues to inform us, "Maybe not your hair but definitely, say, McGee's hair."

"Right… got to ask, what about our ritual? Solving crimes and pissing off Mann, Shepard, Ziva, Kate and Fornell?" I ask her making Mann give me a look for being the first person on the list.

"Fred found a sniffer," Abby informs us making Gibbs and Mann look at Fred while I continue to watch Abby, waiting for the big reveal she always does.

"It's a keystroke logger used by hackers to find passwords," McGee informs us making Gibbs turn to face him while I watch him talk without turning from Abby.

"And you're never going to guess whose computer captain Reynolds was hacking into," Abby informs us making us not even try to guess. She continues, "Well, just 'cause I said you'd never guess doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

"Umm… Mann's?" I guess for her making Mann glare at me.

"No, he's not you."

"Tony's?"

"No."

"Kate's?"

"No."

"Gibbs'?"

"Abby," Gibbs says while getting her to inform us who while giving me a look that says I'm misbehaving again.

"Major Eric Sweigart," Abby happily informs us with a big grin that expanded with every one of my guesses.

"Him again," Mann complains.

"You again," I complain.

"What was Reynolds accessing?" McGee asks Abby as Mann glares at me but I just smile innocently at her before following Gibbs over to look at the plasma screen.

"Sweigart's emails, which I still have to manually cut and paste," Abby informs us while moving back over tot eh computer near Fred making me give him a look that says if he hurts her or scares her, he will be in a world of pain.

"Do it, Abs," Gibbs orders her.

"Well, I found something else. Captain Reynolds opened a file-=share application at seven thirty last night," Abby informs us making Gibbs move back over to the group while I lean on the edge of Abby's desk.

"What's a file-share," Gibbs begins to asks in confusion but McGee cuts him off.

"File-share application. You share music, videos, other files, put 'em on the internet, anyone who wants to can copy 'em."

"Seven thirty is about the time of death," Mann informs us like we don't already know that…. Like it wasn't our ME that informed us of that.

"But what's weird is… the song," Abby informs us. Abby side-eyes Fred while stating, "Drumroll, please." Fred tapes out a beat on the desk with his fingers. Abby turns to us while stating happily, "'The elements' song." We all exchange confused looks about that one, what, if anything, does that mean?

"A song about the weather?" Mann asks Abby something useful for a change.

"No, no, no, it recites all the elements. It's a comic ditty written by a Harvard math professor in the late fifties. It's really catchy," McGee informs us while walking towards the plasma screen. He turns to face us and release we don't have a clue still making him state, "Well, Abby, maybe if you play it, you'll…" Abby types at her computer, pulling up the song.

'There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium, and nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, and iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium. And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium. And gold, protactinium, and indium and gallium,' the song place making me bob my head to it, I like it… it is catchy. Gibbs looks at everyone in the room, him and Mann are the only ones not enjoying it.

"He has access to the nation's secrets and he's file-sharing that song just before he dies? Why?" Mann demands of Gibbs like he will now.

"Because it's catchy… and not everyone working for the government are bad guys… that's just you," I inform her making her turn and glare at me, but I just smirk back.

"Abby's going to find out," Gibbs orders her while taking my coffee in one hand and my hand in to other to pull me out of the room with Mann following us like a lost little puppy.

"Yes, because neither rain nor sleet nor any class of simple atomic substance will keep me from my appointed duty, sir," Abby calls after us making me laugh.

…

"Results, Duck?" Gibbs demands of Ducky as we walk into autopsy to see Mann is already there and looking sad.

"Captain Reynold's cause of death was relatively straight forward, but I did find something else," Ducky informs us as we walk past Mann, over to him at the victim. He walks around the victim and picks up his report while informing us, "On his cheeks, we found a residue of prolactin and lysozyme. Tears, Jethro. Captain Reynolds was crying when he died."

"Uh, checked Reynolds' phone records, boss… uh, colonel, ma'am… uh, I draw a blank," Tony reports while entering the room and walking up to us only to clock Mann.

"So we checked major Sweigart's phone records. Ten calls in the last three days to the same person… a woman," Ziva informs us when Tony stops talking.

"Stephanie?" I pointily asks them.

"No. Jill, captain Reynolds' wife," Tony corrects me. Making me blink in surprise, I didn't see that coming. I see Gibbs out of the side of my eye, half smirking. Mann turns and leaves autopsy with all of us following her but I quickly release Gibbs isn't coming.

"Jethro, are you coming?" I ask him while stopping at the door for a moment.

"Nah, I'll catch up with you in the squad room," Gibbs informs me making me node before leaving, but I curiose why Gibbs isn't coming with us as a team, that is not normal. I am almost in the elevator when I hear, "Duck, I need to ask you something personal."

"What is it, Jethro?" Ducky asks him as I step into the elevator. "Oh, that's beautiful," is the last thing I hear before the doors shut.

…

"The husband, the wife, and the lover. All the trademarks of a classic love triangle," Mann comments in the squad room where the two men and Jill are on the plasma screen between McGee and Tony's desk. I am sitting on the edge of Gibbs desk with him while McGee and Tony his on the corners of their own desk, Mann walked over to stand next to Ziva in front of the plasma screen.

"You forgot the lover's lover, which would make it technically, I think, a lovers quadrangle," Tony comments.

"Or it could be a ring. Abby uncovered suspicious activity on the victim's laptop. And since captain Reynolds had access to highly classified defence secrets, we cannot rule out a spy ring," Ziva informs us while stepping forward and then turning to face Gibbs.

"And we know that Major Sweigart was with your ex…. With… Stephanie Flynn," McGee states while stopping mentioning Gibbs personal connection at the look Gibbs gave him.

"And Mrs Reynolds was at a pharmaceutical convention in Charlottesville," Tony reports.

"Charlottesville," Mann repeats.

"Yes, Charlottesville. Great minds think alike, McGee," Tony comments while pointing from his temple to Mann and back, before giving McGee a look, making him type at his computer to pull up a map.

"Fort Belvoir, where Reynolds died, is here. Charlottesville is here, hundred and four miles," McGee reports while placing the names bigger so we can see.

"Two hour drive," Tony comments.

"Close enough for Jill Reynolds to drive home, kill her husband, drive back to Charlottesville, and fly home again to discover him dead with a witness present," McGee comments before walking off back to his desk.

"That does not mean she did it," Ziva complains while turning to face Gibbs with Mann.

"IT doesn't mean she didn't do it," I correct her.

"Motive?" Mann asks him.

"DiNozzo, check," Gibbs begins to order him.

"Life insurance. Did it, four hundred grand from the military, another quarter of a mil from a private carrier, a beneficiary: Jill Reynolds," Tony reads out as Gibbs stands up and walks behind his dead.

"Yeah, the crime scene just became our prime suspect's house," Gibbs informs us while sitting at his office chair.

"Get a warrant," Mann orders them before walking off.

"Mrs Reynolds?" Ziva asks making Gibbs give her a look that says she stupid for asking making her add, "We'll bring her in."

…

"Hey, anything from those ATMs in Charlottesville?" Gibbs asks us as he walks into the squad room from the back elevator with Mann following him like a lost puppy. Today Gibbs is wearing a maroon polo over his white undershirt with a dark cream jacket. I am wearing a red t-shirt with black bell bottom jeans.

"Oh, not yet boss," McGee reports as Gibbs walks over and stands in front of my desk. McGee thinks for a moment before beginning to ramble, "I was thinking, boss. Now, you know that Abby and I have solved a lot of computer problems together, and it seems to me that, you know, three heads are better then two. And seeing as how the period table I, you know, in my wheelhouse… it seems." Gibbs walks over to his desk and picks up a file that he looks at while returning to McGee and staring at him making him add, "I was thinking it's probably be best if I stay here, focus on my job."

"That's a good call," Gibbs informs him before walking off and I follow him leaving Mann and McGee in the squad room.

…

We are back in the squad room looking at the plasma above my desk, Gibbs is standing right behind me while Mann is standing to close to him and if Gibbs wasn't holding me in place, Mann would be put in her place. Mann sees Ziva and Tony returning while Gibbs clocks something else, Shepard with Stephanie… this is going to get messy, and it wouldn't be my fault. We begin to walk towards Tony and Ziva.

"Agent Gibbs," Shepard calls him and everyone else's attention to her like normal.

"Director," Gibbs greets her slowly while looking between her and Stephanie as Mann walks over to the group and I stand between Stephanie and Gibbs in the circle.

"Colonel, I was reassuring Gibbs'… your witness, that agent Gibbs could separate himself from the personal aspects of this investigation."

"Shepard, Jethro isn't you… he follows the god damn evidence, not a personal vendetta… stop mixing the two of you up. If Stephanie or Major Sweigart is guilty, we arrest them, not let them free because it makes you look good. Know run along and fuck the whole of NCIS over so that you could possible get his attention, because you miss fucking him in Paris," I snap at her making Stephanie give me a look for talking to my boss that way but I am beyond caring… all Shepard cares about is embarrassing Gibbs or insulting me or getting froggy. Stephanie then looks at Shepard in a betray way as Gibbs glares at Shepard before looking away in announce when Mann goes to answer.

"Is that the look you're talking about?" Stephanie asks Shepard making Gibs head snap back to look at them.

"Yeah, that's it," Shepard agrees.

"Yep, we've all seen that one," Mann comments.

"No, you all have seen that one… I haven't because I not a bitch that is only concerned about getting my rocks off with a man that isn't interested in them. Or whose heart you broke because it was too hard, when you know that was what you were getting into before you started dating Jethro… he doesn't change, you just pretend he does to make it easier for you to justify leaving him for what he always did," I correct them making Mann glare at me again. "Stephanie, you're leaving… and next time you have a problem with the investigation of a crime, now that NCIS investigates the facts, not whatever you think it is. If it's the truth we investigate it but without proof, we don't even know anything about is… so the next time you have a complaint about your ex-husband, write it on a nice piece of paper… and stick it up your ass with your self-respect," I inform her with an innocent smile that is hiding a deadly glare.

"For now," Mann adds as Gibbs grabs my hand and pulls me away before I do something that I can't undo, like hit his ex-wife, or Mann or Shepard.

"You find anything, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks him as we walk over to him.

"I bet you've never been happier to see me," Tony comments.

"I am never help to see you… and the only person who is, is the person who sells you your condoms," I inform Tony as we walk the long way around the squad room.

"Uh, it was clean," Tony informs us when Gibbs gives him a look that says get on topic of die.

"Spotless," Ziva adds.

"She's like that professional cleaner in pulp fiction."

"We found a partial print in the kitchen near the office."

"Yeah, run it," Gibbs orders them.

"I mean, with only, like, a squiggle on a little loop. We don't even know which finger," Tony informs us as Gibbs pulls me past them.

"Only ten possibilities, Tony," I remind him as Gibbs, Mann and I walk further away from him.

"Well, no. there's one point, there's ten fingers. You know, that's thousands of," Tony informs us while stopping and Gibbs and I turn to face him only to see him holding all ten fingers up in the air. Gibbs gives him a look that makes him add, "On it." We walk to integration in silence as I hold onto Gibbs hand. Mann enters integration before Gibbs and I arrive, she shuts the door and Gibbs opens it again, allowing me to enter first.

"I don't… want to think. I want to clean," Jill informs Mann.

"We know about your affair with major Sweigart," Mann informs her while moving away from the door where Gibbs and I'm standing.

"Your husband knew, too," Gibbs adds.

"He didn't," Jill denies while sitting down at the table in the middle of the room.

"He hacked into major Sweigart's email. Read everything you ever wrote to each other," Mann informs her.

"He was crying when he died," I inform her softly while walking over to the table and pulling a chair around so that I can sit beside her.

"We also know about the life insurance," Mann adds.

"Six hundred and fifty thousand reasons not to want a divorce," Gibbs comments.

"I don't care about the money," Jill informs us only to look at Gibbs and see the look he is giving her making her exclaim, "Wait. You think that… look, my married wasn't good, but I would never, ever… I told you, I was at a conference in Charlottesville. All you have to do is check."

"Oh, we did," I inform her making her look at me.

"I signed in."

"And you slipped out," Gibbs begins.

"Killed your husband, drove back," Mann continues.

"No!" Jill denies it.

"You want to clean? You clean your conscience, you tell the truth."

"I am!"

"You're not!" Mann scream while hitting her hands into the table.

"Enough," I snap at her before continuing as Gibbs phone rings, "Just because you don't have any feelings, this woman does… she just lost her husband, show some humanity."

"What…? We'll be right there," Gibbs snaps into the phone.

…

"I've been watching the footage of ATMs surrounding the pharmaceutical convention in Charlottesville on the day captain Reynolds died. As you can see, it's time-stamped," McGee informs us back in the squad room with the footage running on the plasma above my desk. I am standing in the middle of Mann and Gibbs with Ziva and Tony behind us, while McGee is at his desk.

"Check out the brunette," Tony comments when a hot looking young girl comes into the room.

"Tony, she's young enough to be your daughter," I remind him.

"And your young enough to be Gibbs' daughter," Tony snaps back.

"Yeah but I like it that way… she doesn't seem to be into older men," I inform him before Gibbs smacks my ass for getting off topic again making me pout, that hurts still.

"No. in the background rounding the corner," McGee corrects Tony without missing a beat. He works on his computer, attempting to zoom in while talking, "Wait for it. There!"

"Jill Reynolds. Eight oh five," Gibbs states.

"Can't be in two places at once."

"Does she have a twin?" I ask them making tony smile in memory at that case.

"There wouldn't be two twins that kill," Tony comments.

"She's clean… in more ways than one," Mann complains.

"And you just yelled and accused a mourning person… how's your conscience? Need clean?" I snap at her because she took it too far in there.

…

"Maybe she hired a contract killer," Ziva offers as we all sit at our desk and Mann stands between Tony and Ziva's desk.

"What about the partial prints in Reynolds' kitchen?" Mann demands of them.

"Came up with eighty thousand potential hits," McGee informs her when Tony points at him. Mann gives him as exasperated look making him continue, "I know. Trying to narrow it down to people who might have had access to the army base."

"Have we given up on Major Sweigart?" Tony asks us in confusion.

"He has an alibi," Ziva informs him.

"From someone who thinks he's her future husband," Mann comments.

"Careful Mann, your jealousy is showing… for something that's not yours to be jealous of," I snap at her tightly.

"Stephanie wouldn't lie," Gibbs overlaps me.

"Are you sure?" Mann demands of him.

"Are you sure?" Mann demands of Gibbs while turning to face him. She continues, "Well, I'm not. I mean, she finds out that her boyfriend was having an affair with her best friend, she might just change her story. Bring her in for another interview."

"Wait," Gibbs orders his team as they get up to Mann's bidding.

"I said bring her in," Mann snaps at them.

"They're not your team… you don't have a team, because no one likes you," I snap at her.

"I said wait," Gibbs orders them again.

"Can you be objective here?" Mann demands softly of Gibbs while leaning onto his desk as I get up and walk behind the desk, resting my hands onto his shoulders in silent support.

"Can you? Because when it comes to Jethro, if it means that you might get to fuck him, that is all you care about, no matter what you have to do? Maybe it's you that should leave," I snap at her without bothering to whisper, she has pissed me off for the last time. She wants to accuse Gibbs of letting his feeling affect the case, I will throw her feelings into her face.

"Because if you can't, you're no good to me," Mann continues while giving me a dirty look for reminding her that he isn't his, even after she tried for so long. "IF this wasn't your ex, what would your gut be saying right now? It would be saying bring her in ad break her. maybe she's lying to protect her boyfriend. Maybe it's worse. What if Stephanie knew about the affair?"

"Listen here, you little bitch… you don't know what Jethro would do if this wasn't his ex, because you don't know him… you know what your profiler told you about him… so don't assume that because it's profiled that he will do something, that is what he will do… because, Stephanie is still a witness, and that is all she is… so stop being a conceded bitch," I snap at her while rubbing Gibbs shoulders.

"She'd walk," Gibbs informs Mann, making her smirk at him.

"Oh, okay, then, let's talk about motive," Mann laughs at him because he didn't even have to think about it and she was sure she would break him with that line of accusations but it didn't work. She continues, "Maybe she wants to frame Jill for being the bitch who stole her boyfriend. Or maybe Sweigart for cheating on her."

"You don't know Stephanie," Gibbs informs her.

"But I do know my job."

"Is that so? Because every time you've been here, we do our job and you flirt with my boyfriend and get in the way without ever helping… I don't think you even know your job," I taunt her.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs states while placing a hand on my leg to get me to calm down before I hurt Mann's feelings too much.

"Here I am, boss," Tony comments.

"Call her. tell her to come in. I need to talk with her," Gibbs orders him making everyone but for me, to return to their desk while I sit on the edge of Gibbs with my back to everyone else. Tony dials Stephanie's phone while Mann paces the room.

"Voicemail," Tony comments while ending the call only to call another one of her numbers. "Same thing," Tony informs us while ending the call and calling another number, "This is special agent Anthony DiNozzo of NCIS for Stephanie Flynn… as of when…? Thank you." Tony hangs up the phone before informing us, "Stephanie quit her job this morning."

…

"Try her again," Gibbs orders Tony while watching the fingerprint on the plasma above my desk while I am sitting on the edge of with Gibbs standing between my legs, and for the record, I was here first.

"Why don't you ring her? She might answer," I ask Gibbs.

"She never answers my calls… have to get in contact with her through our lawyers," Gibbs informs me making me node.

"Maybe the lawyer knows where she is," I offer.

"I'm not calling a lawyer," Gibbs informs me making me laugh into my hand as Abby arrives in the room.

"I'm here, Gibbs," Abby exclaims while running up to him.

"Abby," Gibbs greets her.

"Wait," Abby orders him making me blink in surprise, what's he waiting for? She continues, "'Selenium, uranium, gallium, phosphorus. Potassium, polonium, curium and sodium,'" Abby sings before continuing, "It's the song, Gibbs! There was a program on captain Reynolds' laptop that highlighted these elements. The periodic table has a number associated with each one. The numbers mean something, I just don't know what yet. Like thirty four could be three-four…. Ninety two could be nine-two."

"Could be a GPS coordinate," Mann states while walking up behind Gibbs know that she isn't glaring at me for how I am sitting with my boyfriend. It's not like I'm making out with him in front of her or groping him, he's just standing between my legs as he watches the plasma and I wait on something interesting.

"Or a bank account," Gibbs adds.

"IT could be anything… we're just guessing," I state.

"I just need to know how you knew that I found something," Abby asks Gibbs.

"I didn't, Abby," Gibbs informs her.

"Stephanie still not answering," Tony informs us.

"Well, why did you call me?" Abby asks in confusion making me stand up, running my body against Gibbs as I move over next to Abby.

"I didn't," Gibbs repeats himself.

"Fred said you did," Abby informs us.

"Abby, if Jethro needs you for something, I always come and get you… he doesn't call you," I remind her making her look even more confused as I wrap an arm around her.

"Boss, guess who is one of the eighty thousand hits from the crime scene fingerprint," McGee asks us.

"Fred?" Gibbs and I guess together.

"You guessed."

"Where is he?" Gibbs demands while McGee gets up.

"In my lab," Abby informs us while turning around and grabbing my hand, pulling me behind her.

"With evidence?" I ask her.

"With the laptop!" Abby informs me.

"Find out what this means, McGee," Gibbs orders him while handing over the numbers Abby found and then following Mann who is following me, while I am being pulled along behind an angry Abby.

"It's alright, Abs, we'll stop him and bite him," I promise her as we arrive at the elevator and I push the button call it. The doors instantly open and we quickly step in, sending it down to the lab.

"I'm an idiot… of course Gibbs didn't call me," Abby complains.

"Nah, you've just not had enough caffeine yet," I correct her making Mann look at me in disbelief. The elevator arrives at the lab but before we leave I send it back to the top level as Mann exists first followed by Abby then me and finally Gibbs.

"Hey, going somewhere?" Mann questions Fred as we enter the lab to see him putting on his coat.

"Home," Fred answers her as Abby glares at him.

"Tell me didn't," Abby demands of him while walking over to her computer.

"Didn't what?" Fred asks her in fake confusion. Abby pulls up file of the victims computer to see it perfectly cleaned making him add, "You know, I think we had a power surge."

"They're wiped clean," Abby complains.

"The original laptop?" Mann prompts Abby making her walk over to see the evidence bag open.

"I didn't leave this open!" Abby complains. She does even turn it on before yelling at Fred, "You wiped it, too!"

"Abby, I'm hurt! You think I did this?" Fred asks us.

"Gibbs can I hit him?" Abby asks Gibbs while glaring at Fred.

"No," Gibbs answers her.

"There's too many cameras in here," I inform her while looking at one of the many cameras watching Abby all day.

"Look, anybody could have done it. The lab was left unattended, right, Abby?" Fred lies. He then informs us, "Unless you're gonna arrest me, I've got a date with my Pilates instructor." He leaves the lab and Mann and an angry Abby follow him as Gibbs half smirks.

"This is going to be good," I comment to Gibbs before grabbing his hand to pull him out of the lab in time to see Abby stealing Fred's phone, pulling up the call log.

"Hey. Hey, what are you doing?" Fred demands of him.

"Last number dialled, my lab," Abby reads out.

"Yeah, so, could've missed that," Fred lies still.

"The last email. Confirmed for a flight on Thai air," Abby reads next. Fred snatches the phone back and puts it back onto the holder on his belt making Abby get into his face and yell, "Why did you erase the hard drives?"

"I didn't."

"What do the numbers mean," Mann demands.

"Not a clue."

"DIA deals with classified material. You found a foreign buyer?" Mann asks him as we enter the elevator that finally arrived. Gibbs walks past everyone so that he is behind Fred while I stand next to Abby in silent support.

"You have to go up, in order to go down, right?" Fred asks us without answering Mann while hitting the button for the squad room.

"Can I hit him now, Gibbs?"

"No," Gibbs answers her.

"Can _I_ bite him?" I ask him.

"No."

"You think Reynolds could have set up that computer code?" Mann asks Abby.

"Only an expert could have done it," Abby informs her.

"Reynolds had access to the secrets, you knew how to steal them," Gibbs states while stepping into Fred's personal space.

"Are we gonna find some money stashed away?" Mann asks him.

"If you've got the evidence, arrest me. If not… have a nice day," Fred orders us while leaving the elevator while sticking his visitor badge onto Mann's chest.

"Lieutenant Marsden just confirmed that our friend here volunteered to oversee Abby's work on the laptop," Ziva informs us as we walk into the squad room.

"Why didn't you wipe the hard drive after you killed him?" Mann asks him.

"Because he didn't think anyone was smart enough to find the code, unit it was sent to me," Abby informs him.

"I didn't kill anyone," Fred defends himself.

"Either Reynolds wouldn't split the money with you or you got greedy," Mann comments as we arrive at the other elevator, we're running out of time.

"Think of the slimies thing and that's what he did!" Abby yells while pointing at him as I take Abby's hand in comfort while Gibbs stands behind me and we corner him against the elevator.

"Come on, McGee," Gibbs calls over his shoulder.

"Hey, I know my right," Fred exclaims when Tony stops him from entering the elevator.

"Yeah, you have the right not to be a terrorist, but that obviously didn't stop you… you have the right not to be a dick, but that didn't stop you," I snap at him.

"Boss, I got it," McGee calls out. He prints it out while walking over to us and informing us, "Numbers are an offshore account in the names of both captain Reynolds and Fred Rinnert. One half-million dollars transferred into the account from a bank in Beirut at seven thirty the night Reynolds died. It was cleaned out two hours later."

"So, it was greed?" Gibbs comments while stepping back into Fred's personal space.

"DiNozzo," Mann comments.

"My acting boss says you ain't going anywhere," Tony informs him while poking him making him step back into Gibbs.

"What'd you sell?" Gibbs asks him.

"And who'd you sell it to?" I add.

"Maybe if you cut me a deal, I'll tell you," Fred offers.

"Abby," Gibbs says while stepping out of the way with a smirk. Fred looks confused but only for the second it takes Abby to swing on him, punching him right in his lying, two timing face.

"Ah," Ziva comments with a smile making me smirk at her.

"Ow," Mann comments.

"Sweet," McGee comments before leaving.

"And that is why you don't mess with NCIS," I inform Fed before adding, "We're not cutting you a deal… we will work it out ourselves, we were just giving you a chance to do the right thing for the first time in your life."

…

"Why does every date end up down here?" I ask Gibbs with a laugh as I follow him down into the boat with my lowcut dress on, only to see Stephanie standing next to the boat.

"Hello, Stephanie," Gibbs greets her as I move my hair out of my face.

"Stephanie," I greet her.

"Still not locking your front door, Jethro," Stephanie gets up him but it's obvious she's been crying.

"Are you alright, Stephanie?" I ask her while placing my bag onto the work bench before looking her over.

"Sweet," Stephanie comments while rubbing 'Kelly' the name on the boat cab without answering me.

"Stephanie, are you alright?" I repeat while giving her a look that says I'm not going to stop asking until she answers me.

"I just can by to… give you these," Stephanie informs Gibbs while pulling his dog tags out of her pocket. She continues to explain herself, "I found them in a drawer… about six years ago."

"I thought I lost them," Gibbs comments as he takes them and looks at them under the light.

"I'll give you two a moment," I offer while rubbing Gibbs arm before turning to leave.

"No… no, it's okay. I'm.. I'm not staying. So," Stephanie informs me.

"Just because you're not staying doesn't mean you don't need a moment with your ex," I inform her before deciding to be the bigger man. I add, "Stephanie, I'm sorry for how I treated you with this case… I can be a bitch sometimes, especially if I'm afraid someone I care about is going to get hurt… I didn't mean to take my anger about who we were working with out on you." I hold my hand out and offer, "No hard feelings."

"No hard feelings," Stephanie agrees with me while shaking my hand.

"I do hope you find happiness… and if you need to talk, call the phone, I'm the only one that answers it anyway," I inform her making her node.

"Thank you," Stephanie says to me.

"I'll walk you out," Gibbs says to Stephanie as he places the dog tags of the boat. And following her out of the room, leaving me in the basement on my own… I pick up Gibbs dog tags and have a good look at them, probably the only time I'll find out half this information.

.

Gibbs pov

.

"Why'd you quit your job?" I ask Stephanie as we walk outside towards her car. I'm proud that Alice is willing to apologies to Stephanie, she sometimes lets her mouth get ahead of her thinking and feels bad next.

"Huh… I'm moving to Philadelphia. My parents are getting old… and, Shelley had a baby," Stephanie explains to me.

"Another one?" I ask her in surprise.

"Umm… she's a baby factory. It's a good thing someone in my family is. I guess I'm gonna be that… dotting aunt that still looks great in her bikini," Stephanie informs me making me laugh as I open the door for her but she places her hand on it, pushing it shut again. She continues, "Eric and I split up. He told me about his… affair… with Jill… you knew. After all my ranting in your office, you missed a perfect opportunity to throw that in my face."

"I wouldn't do that to you," I inform her.

"No, you wouldn't. it just never seems to work out for me, Jethro," Stephanie cries making me pull her into a hug… she might have been a bitch with the divorce but I still love her… just not the same way anymore…

"I'm sorry," I whisper to her before continuing, "Me. Us. Not your fault."

"Wasn't anybody's fault," Stephanie informs me as she pulls away. I open the door for her again and this time she lets me and gets into the car. I begin to shut the door but she stops me to inform me, "But we'll always have Moscow." I smirk as I slam the door shut and she drives away for the last time.

I walk back into the house and down to the basement to see Alice is looking over my dog tags while sitting on the workbench.

"You get your answers?" Alice asks me without even looking up.

"Yeah," I answer her as I walk down and pick up and old cassette player that already has a cassette in it.

"Do you want to hear something?" I ask Alice.

"Of course," Alice answer me with a smile as I walk over to Alice before pressing play on it, listening to the piano playing from years before. Alice closes her eyes, just listening to the music that is being played.

'What do you think, daddy?! I came in second place!' Kelly informs me happily from the recording making Alice look at it in fascination.

'You would have been proud of her, Jethro,' Shannon informs me.

'I miss you, daddy. When you get home, I'll be really good at it, I promise. I love you,' Kelly informs me.,

'Kiss for daddy,' Shannon reminds Kelly making her give me a kiss on the recording even though I wasn't there.

'I love you, daddy… love you,' Kelly informs me with a giggle.

'Bye, Jethro. We miss you,' Shannon inform me before the recording ends. Alice gently takes it off my hands before pulling me into a hug.

"I miss them," I mumble into her neck and I know there is nothing she could do to help me.

"I know," Alice whispers while rubbing my hair until I stop crying. Once I am no longer crying but still laying again my rock Alice asks me, "Jethro, are you alright."

"Mann's right… I'm not over their death," I mumble.

"Listen her Jethro, and listen well… you don't have to over their death, but you also shouldn't have to think about it every time someone new enters your life… it has nothing to do with anyone but for you, and the people that knew them. I honestly would care if you didn't tell me, as long as it doesn't hurt you. You miss them but you function… getting over their death, just means being able to do what you used to do without breaking down, or that's a what a wise man told me," Alice informs me while rubbing my hair.

"I didn't… it arrived the day of their funeral," I inform her, what I can't bring myself to say is that it took me until Stephanie to be able to listen to it or that this is only the second time I can… I miss them to much but I don't want to forget what they sound like.

"I'm sorry… Jethro, I'm so sorry," Alice whispers to me while rubbing my hair, she is at a lost on what to do to make me feel better but knowing that she is here is enough… I needed to hear it again but I couldn't do it on my own, I need Alice here and I wanted her to know what they sounded like…

'I'll ask her later,' I promise myself while eyeing the box hidden behind the bottles on the workbench…


	6. Gift

"Hey, Abby," I greet her as I walk into the lab.

"Hey, Alice. What's up?" Abby asks me while bouncing around the lab like normal.

"Do you have a means of transferring something from cassette to MP3?" I ask her while sitting on the chair next to one of her computer.

"Of course I do," Abby answers me before adding, "Why?"

"I have an idea for using this," I inform Abby while holding up the MP3 player Abby brought Gibbs.

"What is it?" Abby asks me with a grin.

"It's person, something that might get me in trouble with my boyfriend… but it will help him at the same time," I answer her without answering her.

"Secretive," Abby says with a smile.

"Could you set up the program, and then take launch?" I ask her hopefully.

"Of course," Abby agrees while pulling up a program before running into her office and getting a cassette player out, which she also plugs into the computer. She takes the MP3 player, plugging it into the computer as well. She goes into the settings on the program and set it to record onto the MP3 player.

"How do I do this?" I ask her while pulling out a cassette out of my backpack.

"Like this," Abby answers me while taking the cassette and gently placing it into the player before hitting play on the player before hitting copy on the program.

"And that does it?" I ask her.

"Yep, when the recording is over. Add the next one, hit play and then copy," Abby answers me.

"And it copies everything, from the very beginning to the end?" I ask her.

"Yep," Abby answers me before leaving with a grin. I node while fingering my backpack for a second before pulling out a photo of Gibs' girl and I walk over to Abby's copier. I place the photo face down and copy it onto a regular piece of paper. I pick up the photo and the copy before walking back over to Abby's desk where the recording of the cassette is down. I rewind the cassette before placing the next one in and begin to record it too. I put out the two girls of the copy of the photo, I then get glue and carefully glue it to the back of the MP3 player. Once the girls are glued to the back, I grab the photo of Gibbs and glue him so that he is standing behind the girls. I rewind the cassette again and then place the next on in again, where I record it again.

…

"What are you up to?" Gibbs asks me as I return to the squad room, carrying the MP3 player and my backpack.

"Nothing," I lie while placing the backpack behind my desk before walking over to Gibbs and sitting on the edge of his desk.

"I don't believe that," Gibbs informs me while continuing to work on his report.

"You don't have too, it's the truth," I inform him.

"You're such a liar," Gibbs informs me while reading the file.

"I'm not a liar," I defend myself.

"Yes, you are. I know you, baby," Gibbs informs me while looking up from the file to my face.

"Mm-hmm… whatever you say," I say with a grin before looking up at the roof innocently.

"Alice, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing to worry about," I promise him.

"I'm not worried," Gibbs informs me while returning to the file but placing his hand on my ankle where the team can't see it.

"Right," I hum while reading my report that I have already summited to him.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs calls out before throwing Tony's report back at him then snatching my report of me to read it himself making me smirk at him. He orders him, "Do it again." Gibbs quietly reads my report while rubbing my lower legs without raising his hand above the desk.

…

I am still sitting on Gibbs desk when the team leave for the night after handing in his file for the third time. I look around the room, making sure we are alone before leaning forward and gently kissing Gibbs on his lips for a second.

"Alice, what did you do?" Gibbs asks me when he breaks the kiss.

"Promise you won't be mad?" I ask him softly.

"Alice, what did you do?"

"Please, promise me."

"Alice, I couldn't ever be mad at you for long," Gibbs half promise me but I know it's all I'm going to get from him. I reach behind me into my back pocket where I placed the MP3 player, and pull it out handing it to Gibbs. Gibbs takes it off me before looking at it like it's poison and I am asking him to give it to his whole family. "Alice," Gibbs begins.

"Jethro, please," I beg of him.

"You know I don't like these… things," Gibbs reminds me while pushing it back towards me.

"I know… but I think you'll like this one," I inform him while standing up and leaning against the desk. I take the MP3 player back off Gibbs and turn it on. I make sure the headphone is plugged in properly before handing them to him.

"Alice," Gibbs begins.

"No, Jethro. For once, we are doing my thing… which isn't build a boat, by the way," I inform him but I don't really mean it and he knows it. Gibbs signs before taking the headphones and putting them on. I press play on the MP3 player making my recordings play. Gibbs gasps in surprise while placing his hands over the headphones listening to it. I softly smile while handing Gibbs the MP3 player again and moving over to my desk, giving Gibbs some space but I am here if he needs me.

…

"Alice… how… why?" Gibbs gasps out while removing the headphones with glossy eyes looking at me.

"Jethro, are you alright?" I ask him while getting up and walking over to him, gently placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Why?" Gibbs settles on.

"Because, you deserve to be able to hear their voice without having to pull out a cassette and cassette player, risking destroying the only recordings you have," I answer him honestly.

"Why would you do that?" Gibbs asks me again, honestly looking confused.

"Because I love you and you love them… their apart of you, and this way that MP3 player is used for something good," I inform him while hesitantly pulling him into a hug but he grips me tightly.

"Thank you, Alice," Gibbs whispers.

"It was my pleasure," I whisper while rubbing his back softly.

"I mean it, thank you," Gibbs informs me while pulling away from the hug to look into my face and I see that he is holding the MP3 player with he same care he puts into building his boats.

"Your welcome… I… if there is any other recording that I missed, let me know and I will put them on for you," I promise him softly.

"I didn't even know I had this many," Gibbs informs me.

"I… it was hidden in the attic… sorry I went throw your stuff," I whisper, incredibly ashamed of myself for doing that even knowing I was doing it for Gibbs.

"Thank you," Gibbs whispers again while holding the MP3 player between his hands.

"Come on, lets go get no where with a boat," I say while trying to change the subject knowing that this is something Gibbs doesn't like to think about, let alone talk about.

"Okay," Gibbs agrees with me while placing the MP3 player down face first to pick up his coat. He puts his right arm throw the arm hole as I walk back to my desk, only to hear him gasp in surprise making me look back at him to see he is staring at the back of the MP3 player. It's a photo of Kelly and Shannon from the case file and then there is Gibbs from his old service record, glued to make it look like one photo.

"Jethro, are you alright?" I ask him while returning to the frozen marine. I place my hand on his arm while continuing, "Jethro, if you don't like it, it's easy to remove…"

"How?" Gibbs asks me while running his finger over Shannon's photo.

"Abby's computer," I answer him knowing that is all the answer he needs.

"It was Shannon's birthday and I was deployed," Gibbs informs me.

"It was a beautiful photo… missing the main man of their life," I inform him making him smile sadly.

"I wanted to be there but I couldn't get back in time," Gibbs informs me. I don't know what to say so I settle for gently rubbing his back. Gibbs place the second arm on before picking up the MP3 player and gently placing it into his pocket.

"Let's go home," I say softly while grabbing my coat and then Gibbs hand.

"Good idea," Gibbs agrees with me while I pull him towards the elevator with my backpack swinging from my hand.

…

Gibbs pov

.

I continue to run my hand over the MP3 player while thinking about everything Alice has done for me. She's too sweet, but I wouldn't have her any other way. I place the MP3 player on the bedside table before turning and looking at my sleeping girl, I don't understand why she did this. She could have left it on cassette or even be mad that I still think about Shannon and Kelly but instead she makes it easier for me to listen to their voices… she's an angle and I don't know why she's so content with being with me when she could do so much better but I'm not going to mention that to her… I'm not going to let her go if I can help it. I lay down on my side of the bed and reach over to pull the blanket up around Alice shoulder, making sure that she is comfortable while sleeping.

Alice turns over and faces me while opening her eyes, and blinking sleepily at me.

"Jethro?" Alice mumbles while holding her pillow.

"I'm fine Alice. Go back to sleep," I inform her while reaching over and placing my hand over her eyes so that she can't see.

"Jethro, you can't do that," Alice complains while removing me hand and holding it against her chest.

"Do what?" I ask her innocently while attempting not to talk about anything. I have managed to not talk about it since they died but this one, little girl has me telling all my secrets and I don't like it.

"Jethro, don't lie to me… if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, just don't lie to my face," Alice informs me while releasing my hand and moving off her pillow fort to hug me tightly.

"Just thinking about my life," I answer her while wrapping my arms around her tightly.

"Jethro, you need sleep. There'll be time to think when your dead," Alice informs me while snuggling into my arms.

"I can take care of myself baby… you go back to sleep," I order her while relaxing into the bed with Alice in my arms.

"I want to take care of you, Jethro, because I love you," Alice informs me while grabbing a handful of my shirt.

"I love you too, baby," I promise her while rubbing her back softly in an attempt to lure her back into sleep. Alice hums while slowly falling back to sleep and I follow her into the world of sleep.


	7. Identity Crisis

**_Sorry about not getting a chapter out last week. And sorry about it being so late this week. I'll try and get it back onto normal timetable._**

#

"No bad," Ziva laughs while looking over McGee's shoulder at his computer as Tony arrives to work late, wearing a pair of sunglasses. I am sitting at my desk with Ugly Tony the second him my lap as I brush her, she has her ears and tail died red. I am wearing a red singlet shirt with black jeans.

"And look at this one. You're going to looove this one," McGee informs Ziva while typing away at his computer.

"Yeah, he would not be safe with me. I would eat him," Ziva informs him.

"He's so adorable. How can you say no to that face?" McGee asks Ziva in disbelief making her laugh at him this time.

"Please tell me you're looking for a man for Ziva," Tony begs of us while removing his sunglasses.

"Not me," Ziva answers him in disgust.

"Alice… don't tell me," Tony says while turning to me with a scared look on his face that Gibbs is going to get meaner.

"Tony, if I broke up with Jethro, I wouldn't be sitting here. I would be half way to Mexico… or hiding as a dead body somewhere," I inform him with complete honestly while looking appalled that he would think I would break up with Gibbs.

"Ah… Mc-Goo, is there something you want to tell me?" Tony teases the only other person in the room.

"Looking at animal rescue sites," McGee admits to Tony.

"McGee's thinking about getting a puppy," Ziva explains.

"A puppy's a lot of work. You got to feed it, walk it, train it," Tony informs McGee while walking closure to McGee's desk with every word.

"Yeah. I'm not twelve, all right?" McGee informs him as Tony leans down looking at the other dogs as McGee continues, "I work hard. I deserve someone who will jump up all excited when I get home, you know?"

"Lay on the couch, watch TV."

"Maybe lick my face a little bit," McGee continues.

"IS this before or after they lick their own ass?" I ask McGee while watching them in amusement. I didn't have these thoughts when I got my rat-dog-thing, I just thoughts she might be a good pet and annoy Kate… she did both brilliantly if I do say so myself.

"Might be easier getting a girlfriend," Tony comments to McGee while smirking at me for my input into McGee's thing, making Ziva pull a disgusted face at his comment while ignoring me.

"Which might even bee easier with a puppy," McGee comments. Tony slowly leans up to look over Ziva's back making McGee look at him while adding, "Even for you."

"I'm not ready to start taking tips from you on this yet, probie," Tony informs him.

"Tony, I think it's time you get back on that horse."

"Are you getting a pony?" Ziva asks Tony excitedly, for a murdering, manipulating bitch, she is extremely excited about animals, like a little child on Christmas.

"It's an adage," Tony informs her.

"I am not familiar with that breed," Ziva informs him.

"Yeah, well, they are quite rare. Sort of a cross between a Pegasus and a unicorn," Tony informs her loudly. She stares at him for a long moment before she releases he is being an ass and not telling her the truth, therefore she stands up while crossing her arms in annoyance. Tony asks McGee, "So, who's the favourite?"

"The pit bull," Ziva answers him angrily.

"Yeah, that makes sense for you, actually. Not really for McGee. He's more of a… spaniel kind of guy. cocker, maybe?" Tony teases McGee.

"How about an Australian Shepherd?" Gibbs asks them while looking over McGee's shoulder at the dogs on the computer. Gibbs is wearing a white shirt under a grey shirt that matches his coat perfectly.

"Oh," Tony says while McGee pulls them up the on the computer.

"They're working dog," Gibbs informs them before walking over to his desk.

"Or a rat-dog-thing? They're but ass ugly but very cuddly," I inform them while patting ugly Tony the second as Tony's phone begins to ring.

"Pick it up, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders Tony while walking over to his desk.

"On it, boss," Tony answers him while walking over to his desk and answering the phone. Gibbs places his coffee onto his desk while informing us, "A.F.I.P. smooth things over."

"Hold please," Tony says into his phone in surprise before pressing hold and asking Gibbs, "What did we do to incur the wrath of the armed forced institute of pathology?"

"Ducky kept one of their cadavers," Gibbs answers him making me laugh.

"Go dad," I mumble.

"Ducky stole a cadaver?" McGee asks in surprise.

"I'm sure he had a good reason," Ziva attempts to make this better.

"I hope so," Gibbs informs her while grabbing his note book and walking away. We all get up to follow him and I fall into step beside him before he turns to everyone else and says, "Sit." They all sit back down making him order them, "Stay." He walks off and I follow him making him give me a look without saying anything because he knows I am not going to stay when it is my family in trouble. Gibbs softly says with a half-smile, so that they don't hear him, "Roll over."

"You trained them well," I tease him.

"Just need to train you know."

"Yeah, nah, that ain't happening in this lifetime."

"Yeah, that would be boring… and not my baby girl," Gibbs agrees with me while placing a hand on my lower back, leading me into the elevator.

…

We arrive at autopsy and step out of the elevator as Gibbs shakes his empty coffee cup before throwing it into a bin outside the doors to autopsy as we enter.

"It's absolutely ridiculous, Jethro. This man's body should never have been donated to science," Ducky informs us angrily as we walk in to see him removing his face shield.

"Too late for a refund. You opened it," I inform him calmly as Gibbs begins to walk around the room.

"He was murdered, Jethro, Alice, with an injection mercury into his brain. A liquid bullet. Mr Palmer is presently endeavouring to reach the M.E. who made such a grievous oversight," Ducky informs us making me understand why he is so pissed to steal a dead body, not from the FBI.

"Still no answer, Doctor," Jimmy informs him while hanging up the phone.

"Then redial, Mr Palmer," Ducky orders him while picking up the victim's chart. Jimmy looks at Gibbs and me before doing as he was told. Ducky continues to ramble, "Yes. Unidentified African-American male, approximately fifty years old blood-alcohol leave zero point one-two. Official cause of death: asphyxiation from the deceased's own vomit. However, here's the kicker. They elected not to perform an autopsy."

"But it would be pretty hard to find a pinprick hole in the base of a skull. And heavy metals wouldn't show on tox screen unless you're looking for them, specifically," Jimmy defends the M.E. as Ducky slams the chart down onto the rolling table. Gibbs grabs my hand and pulls me over to an autopsy table which he leans on while watching Ducky belittle Jimmy.

"Mr Palmer, do not defend the inefficiency of others."

"I'm not sure you can just take control of a body, Duck," Gibbs informs him calmly making Ducky turn back to Gibbs angrily about this injustice that has happened.

"I mean, based on preliminary findings, county police determined that he was a nameless drifter. A John Doe. Had to must to drink and died in his sleep," Ducky informs us while walking closure to the victim.

"Some people live their whole lives off the grid," I inform him calmly.

"Well, not our man. I'd wager that he spent several years in prison," Ducky informs us while reaching the body. Gibbs gives him a tightly lip smile before walking over to the body with me following him, listening to the list of injuries Ducky found to prove he spent time in some prison, "Yeah, it's elementary, my dear girl. The proliferation of scar tissue on his body. Cigarette-sized burs."

"Our John Doe led a violent life," Jimmy informs us as Gibbs begins to walk around the table again.

"Yes, well, this long scar on his left leg is surgical. However, it healed poorly. Suggests prison-calibre medical treatment. Especially post-operative," Ducky informs us while turning the leg for us to see a long, raised scar.

"And the tattooing. Pen ink. Jailhouse style," Jimmy informs us while moving the chest flap to show us the tattoo on his chest.

"Yes. Perhaps we can get Abby to shed some light on this pattern," Ducky comments because it looks like a child's scribble at the moment.

"It's her area of expertise," Gibbs comments.

"A John Doe. I mean, it's ridiculous. It can't be that difficult to locate a prison record. Somebody must actually care that this man is dead," Ducky exclaims before demanding of Jimmy, "Well? Did you locate the M.E.?"

"No. I gave up," Jimmy answers him honestly.

"There in lies the problem. people are just not willing to do the legwork," Ducky exclaims before storming out of the room making me look after him. I hesitate for a second before following him out of the room, leaving Jimmy with Gibbs.

"Dad," I call while jogging to catch up with him. Once I am beside him I ask, "Are you going to be alright? Or do you need to throw a can at the bitch?"

"I'll be aright once the people responsible for this… this injustice is brought to justices," Ducky answers me tightly.

.

Gibbs pov

.

I watch Alice chase after her angry father and I can't help but think that this is going to be a long case, and we are going to take it.

"He had a murder victim right in front of him, classroom full of military students. I think he might be a bit embarrassed," Jimmy informs me, breaking me from my thought.

"Excellent detective work," I comment without really meaning it… Ugly Tony the second could have worked that out, and she's a dog. I turn and follow the two Mallards out to where ever they are going.

…

Alice pov

.

"I hope your opinion of me doesn't waver after I've given this fellow a piece of my mind," Ducky begs of us as we walk down the hallway leading to the M.E.'s office.

"Never," Gibbs answers him with a half-grin.

"I warn you, thig might get ugly," Ducky warns us before opening the door and walking in. Gibbs leans on the doorstop looking in to see a female covering a dead body, and I lean against Gibbs side watching the show that is about to go down. Ducky exclaims, "I am looking for Dr Jordan Hampton."

"You found her," Hampton informs him while turning the light off and smiling at him innocently.

"Uh, is there something wrong with your telephone?" Ducky asks her pleasantly, all signs of anger gone from his body.

"Wouldn't know. I don't answer it. Too many bodies, and not enough time," Hampton informs him while throwing away her gloves.

"Special agent Gibbs, Todd, Dr Donald Mallard. NCIS," Gibbs calls over while showing her his badge over Ducky's head.

"Pleasure. I assume you're not here to check on my phone," Hampton says to Gibbs while walking over to her desk.

"Perhaps you'd have a moment to discuss a John Dow that crossed your table nine days ago," Ducky states while slowing walking into the room, with Gibbs and I following him.

"Remember the body?" I ask her when she stops collecting her tools.

"Yeah, I remember everybody. Fifty something, black male found DOA on highland pier. Aspirated on his own vomit," Hampton informs us while walking around the table to face us.

"I assume you kept him the requisite seventy-two hours," Ducky states.

"No one made any inquires. Day two of his stay, I caught a priority triple homicide. Day four, anatomy board picked him up," She informs us while opening the door to the freezer to place the body back into the cooler.

"You needed the space," Gibbs states.

"Not a whole lot of elbow room. Where he went after that, I can't say," Hampton informs us while rolling the body in next to a second body.

"A.F.I.P, and then, our autopsy suite," Ducky informs her while walking closure to her and she just hums at that information.

"We're investigating his death as a homicide," I inform her.

"Damn it. I missed something," Hampton complains while closing the door to the freezer and walking over to Ducky.

"An injection of mercury into his brain in between the first vertebrae and the occupation bone," Ducky informs her what she missed.

"Police tried and failed to Id him," Hampton informs us while walking over to the filing cabinet and pulling his file. She continues to state, "AFIS database and dental record searches: they came up empty."

"DNA?" Gibbs asks her as she hands the file to Ducky.

"I'm not sure how it goes at NCIS, around here, that takes about six months."

"Never canvassed the scene."

"Um. Sadly, most cops I know, they prefer to hear, 'case closed,' then to look for a reason to open one."

"It's not the first time someone's slipped through the cracks," Ducky comments making me give him a look, this is much more civil than I was expecting him to be.

"Well, I'm glad you caught him, Dr Mallard," Hampton informs him.

"As am I," Ducky informs her making Gibbs smirk as Ducky turns and leaves the room. Gibbs smirks at her before following him at of the room with me following him.

"Yeah, I hope she recovers from that tongue-lashing," Gibbs informs Ducky while shutting the door and pulling me past Ducky when he stops walking at the beginning of Gibbs speaking.

…

"What did you find under the pier?" Gibbs asks McGee and Ziva when we arrive at the pier where our victim died to help them such. We are all wearing our NCIS wind breaker and hats, Gibbs hasn't rolled his collar down on his windbreaker and it is annoying me but I am also used to it too because he always only rolls the front down and leaves the back up.

"Eighty-five cents, two batteries and a bottle cap," McGee reports while walking beside us with a metal detector in his hand.

"No mercury, no needle," Ziva adds while Tony pocks the headphones McGee is wearing.

"Keep looking," Gibbs orders them while coming to a stop and looking over the open water.

"Got to find someone who knew him," I comment.

"Highland Beach in October," Tony comments as Gibbs spins in a circle looking for something. Tony continues, "How much of a tourist draw. Soft-shell crab season's almost over. People really like boats that much?"

"You work for the Navy, DiNozzo," Gibbs reminds him making me laugh as I walk a step behind Gibbs leaving Tony behind. Tony catches up to us as we walk into a random show on the pier.

"Maybe we should start with this waitress," Tony comments when he clocks the waitress wearing a very short skirt.

"Eating or asking questions?" The waitress asks us while looking the men up and down making me have to fight myself not to glare at her. Gibbs is mine and no one really wants Tony long term. She continues to inform us, "Id you were hoping for subtle, you could have lost the guns. Or least the hats." Tony grins at Gibbs as I roll my eyes at the sex-machine as he chases after the girl.

"Seen him?" Gibbs asks one of the customers who shakes his head no.

"Seen him?" I ask a different customer to Gibbs and Tony but this lady says no too. I walk back over to the two men.

"So, the waitress, Miss Shannon O'Hara, remembers our guy. never got a name, paid cash, big tipper. How about your biker gang there?" Tony asks us.

"They're just passing through," Gibbs answers him softly.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, they don't like cops much… feds less," I inform him calmly.

"Check out the brunette at the table," Gibbs comments to a pretty girl wearing a light grey suit making me clench my hands into a fist.

"Good eye, boss. I'll tell you, my radar is just totally shot. She's smokin'," Tony comments making me clench my teeth together and fight myself from glaring at her… Gibbs better not think that too. Because I am glaring at the ground I fail to see the look Gibbs gives Tony but I do hear Tony add, "That's not what you meant. You were suggesting that she seems to interested in our presence, maybe a little too interested, and that I should question her. Not a problem." Gibbs places his hand on my back while the two men look over at the woman and Tony comments, "That's a problem." I look over to see that while Tony was rambling, the girl left.

We leave the shop to corner the girl that McGee and Ziva have already stopped.

"What business is it of NCIS?" She asks us innocently.,

"We're looking for anyone who might have known this man," Tony informs her while showing her the photo of the man on the slab.

"He's dead?"

"You know him?" I demand of her.

"His name is Marvin Hinton. He was with me."

"And you are?" Ziva demands of her. She quickly reaches into her purse making Ziva grab her arm and pull it away from her bag while ordering her, "Careful.

"I was just reaching for my ID," She informs us while Ziva takes the ID and hands it to Gibbs who opens it and reads the name.

"Special Agent Courtney Krieger," Gibbs reads while looking at the badge.

"Hinton was working for the FBI," Krieger informs us.

"Fornell is coming back," I whisper to myself and no one seems to hear me making me hold back a groan.

…

"Hey, Gibbs, need a refill? I'm going," Betro, an NCIS agent, asks Gibbs as he walks past to see Gibbs leaving the elevator drinking the last of his coffee.

"Well, yeah, Betro. Thanks, make it a double," Gibbs answers him while turning to face the man.

"You got it," Betro answers Gibbs making him fully-grin as he walks into the squad room.

"Still can't find any record of Marvin Hinton," McGee reports to us.

"And you won't. Marvin Hinton doesn't exist anymore," Krieger informs us from where she is sitting next to McGee's desk with Ugly Tony the second growling at her.

"'Anymore?'" Tony asks while Gibbs sits at his desk and I walk over, pick up my dog on the way to sit on the edge of my own desk because she is sitting in my chair.

"His cellmates swear Marvin Hinton served six years at Cumberland, although any record of it vanished when he was released last month. We hat to reassemble his history by hand, it's not complete. He once went by the name Frederick LeClair," Krieger informs us while handing McGee a USB as I pat my dog's head.

"Hinton aka LeClair," McGee comments while pulling up the rap sheet for the victim onto the plasma above my desk. Gibbs gets up and walks over he that he is standing between my legs looking at the 'facts' while also patting ugly Tony's head. McGee continues to read, "Bootlegging, false IDs, resisting arrest, theft."

"Guy's a career felon," I comment while Gibbs moves away and I look at the elevator when it opens but still not Fornell.

"Interstate trafficking, primarily," Krieger informs us while getting up and pacing the room.

"How did he show up on your radar?" Ziva asks her.

"Was a routine tip. Picked him up offloading stolen cargo containers," Krieger informs Ziva while coming to a stop in front of her desk.

"At which point, you discover a nameless man whose entire history's been erased. No fingerprints, no criminal record," Tony comments making her turn to him.

"Not even a high school transcript," She informs him.

"That's impossible, you'd need first person access to a federal mainframe, credit rating, countless private companies," McGee rambles making her walk closure to him as Gibbs watches her closely while leaning forward onto his desk.

"That'd be like taking spit out of the ocean," Tony comments.

"How did he do it?" Gibbs demands of her while sitting back in his chair.

"Claimed he didn't. Said he was contacted by someone offering the service," Krieger informs Gibbs.

"'The Eraser,'" Tony comments making me roll my eyes at him.

"What movie is that form?" McGee asks Tony making Krieger look at them while getting closure to my desk, which means she is walking around Gibbs and I don't like that.

"I don't know, Flash dance?" Tony exclaims, almost insulted that McGee had to ask.

"Why was Hinton not back in prison?" Ziva asks Krieger making her walk back around Gibbs desk and closure to Ziva's desk again.

"He was a small dish, but the eraser… he's our real target. We hoped he would contact Hinton, get paid off and finish the job," Krieger explains to Ziva.

"Provide Hinton with a new identity," Tony comments.

"Exactly. I was left to baby-sit. It was my first field assignment. Never expected him to be killed," Krieger informs us while standing between McGee and Tony's desk.

"That if what happens to bait," Ziva informs her calmly making her look like she is going to cry.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Tony comments while pulling on Krieger sleeve making Ziva look away with a hurt look in her eyes… Oh, my little bitch like the sex-machine… This is not going to end well.

"So, why didn't Hinton skip town when he had the opportunity?" McGee asks as Krieger walks back over to the plasma above my desk.

"He was having too good a time on the government expense account. But we did have him under twenty-four hour monitoring, three-team shifts," Krieger reports us.

"What changed?" I ask her as she begins to pace again.

"The Eraser didn't make contact. They pulled my surveillance team to chase other leads," Krieger informs us while coming to a stop with her back to me, facing Gibbs closely.

"You notify your boss. We need to know everything you know," Gibbs orders of her.

…

"The Bureau set Hinton up here?" Tony asks Krieger as we walk out of an elevator into a hallway of an expensive hotel. We are all wearing our NCIS windbreakers again while Krieger is wearing an FBI one. Gibbs still hasn't fixed his collar, for a marine he seems to do that a lot. We also have our go bags and McGee is carry a box to process the room. Gibbs bag is a green, military issue bag, one instead of the NCIS standard issue black bag.

"To maintain the appearance he was flush," Krieger explains while leading us to the correct room.

"Anyone else have their own key?" Gibbs asks her.

"No, we met here weekly so no one would see us together. He agreed to play along in exchange for leniency. But he knew it could be dangerous," Krieger informs us while opening the door.

"Well, forget the puppy, McGee. A place like this is what you need to score with the chicks," Tony informs McGee while entering the room. The enter room screams money. McGee places the box on the ground as Gibbs opens the door to another room. Gibbs turns the light on in the bed room.

"Here," Gibbs calls out. We all look at him before entering the bedroom. Ziva takes photos while I draw the 'crime scene' and McGee gloves up to collect the evidence.

"Boss, this could be the murder weapon: mercury," McGee comments while kneeling down next to the pillow with some metal balls on it making Gibbs half smile. Ziva continues to take photos of the room as Krieger leans on the door stop into the room. McGee collects the ball as Gibbs leaves the room, looking around the hotel room/apartment and Tony gloves up. Ziva swabs the red dots on the bedding.

"Positive for blood," Ziva calls out. Gibbs continues to look around as Ziva pulls out a UV black light and Tony turns the light back off. Ziva runs the UV black light over the bedding and see more stains. She comments, "Ooh. Fluids. Lots of them."

"No surprise there," Tony comments while turning the light back on.

"Six years in prison," McGee adds while bagging the top sheet with the blood on it.

"The Eraser made the initial contact at the Crab Shack," Krieger informs Gibbs asks she follows him around the room.

"Not face to face," Gibbs comments.

"No, slipped him a note," Krieger informs him as Ziva, Tony and I leave the bedroom.

"So, you sent Hinton back, hoping for another one," Gibbs comments.

"Hinton was supposed to keep a record of anyone he came in contact with. I was running background checks, chasing down his leads. I was waiting for anything new," Krieger informs us.

"And how do you know what the real background is and what is one that the eraser made up?" I ask Krieger but she doesn't answer me… this sting doesn't seem very thought through, even for the FBI.

"You got your wish. You're first crime scene. He was killed in that room," Ziva comments while looking at the bed room.

…

"This is why I love you guys. You bring me hair, you bring me blood, you bring me fluids. And mercury. Predictable, yet constantly surprising," Abby informs us while playing with some liquid mercury in a test bowl, in the lab with most of the lights off for some reason.

"We try," Gibbs informs her.

"OF course, mercury is toxic, so you shouldn't let kids break open thermometers and paly with it," Abby exclaims.

"Speaking from personal experience, Abs? another prank gone wrong?" I ask her.

"Actually explains a lot," McGee comments.

"You want it, but it kills you. It's like a metaphor. It's a cigarette," Abby informs us happily.

"Or chocolate for dogs," McGee adds.

"By the way, I like the dachshund for you. You could name him mercury," Abby comments.

"This mercury, Abby," Gibbs reminds her while pointing to the mercury in her hand.

"Industrial grade, commonly used in heavy machinery, although it's fallen out of favour because of the dear factor," Abby informs us quickly.

"A lot of it's being dropped on developing nations like India," McGee adds.

"Where exporting dumping has become a major revenue stream. Anyway, un, this is what killed our painted man. Speaking of which," Abby informs us while placing the mercury onto the table and walking over to her computer with us following her. She continues, "I've seen a lot of great skin art done with a ballpoint pen and needle. Like this and this," the second one is a spider web while I wouldn't even know what the first one was but it looks nice. Then she pills up one of the devil squeezing a man's head. Then just the devil in all his evilness.

"Very nice," McGee comments.

"But this guy's tattoo it's, it's a mess. The symbols are gibberish, the pattern's haphazard. It's a puzzle. It puzzles me, Gibbs. I'm determined to solve it," Abby exclaims while looking at the photo of the tattoo.

"Maybe it's not the tattoo were looking at but a coverup of the tattoo," I offer to her while looking at it.

"You mean, like someone latterly scribbled it out?"

"Well, his entire life has been erased, what's a tattoo?"

"Hair samples?" Gibbs asks her while stepping up behind me, placing his right hand on my hip between me and the table.

"Not nearly as interesting. Six different women."

"Hinton had a lot of girlfriends," McGee comments.

"One's a bleach blonde. One's auburn from a bottle, if you want to know anything else, you have to find something to match it against," Abby informs us while turning to face us. Gibbs half-smiles before turning and leaving the lab with me following him.

…

We stand in the doorway watching an old man die of paperwork before Gibbs knocks loudly on the open door over my head making the man look up and hold one finger to get us to wait.

"How do you work for, Tobias? Homeland Security or the FBI?" Gibbs asks the old man.

"World's on my shoulders, Gibbs," Fornell informs him making Gibbs smirk at his old friend.

"World made of paper work, maybe," I say through my laughter as Gibbs looks for an empty seat to sit in but there isn't none… this is a nice change, not, where at his place of work.

"Just throw that anywhere," Fornell orders Gibbs when he sees a chair full of paperwork making Gibbs pick the chair up and tip it into the ground, annoying Fornell. Kind of defeats the purpose of e-mail when you have to print it all out for the file anyway," Fornell informs us as Gibbs places his foot up onto Fornell's desk.

"Yeah. That's why I don't use it," Gibbs lies making me laugh even more while resting against the back of his chair.

"Really? Not because you can't figure out how to work it?" Fornell teases him making Gibbs laugh at him as he removes his notebook from him jacket. Fornell removes his glasses and places them onto his desk while informing us, "I spend most of my time now coordinating the flow of information. What can I give you?"

"Your opinion on Special Agent Courtney Krieger," I answer him once I get my laughter under control. He leans back into his chair while huffing in thought.

"Promising. Does everything by the book, the book doesn't show very much imagination. Definitely a child of the electronic age. Currently running a low-level asset in highland beach," Fornell informs us.

"Asset named Hinton," Gibbs states.

"Okay, what am I missing?"

"Fact he was found murdered nine days ago. Being investigated by us. I was waiting for you to show up all day and we still had to come find you. You're slipping old man," I state.

"Marvin Hinton is dead?" Fornell asks us in surprise.

"I told her to notify you," Gibbs explains to him in annoyance. If he can't trust FBI agents to do that, what can he trust them to do? Fornell looks at us for a moment before looking at his computer, he quickly picks up his glasses and puts them back on. He turns to the computer and types at it for a moment before looking annoyed.

"You got to be kidding me. She sent an e-mail," Fornell informs us.

"That isn't by the book. The book clearly states to ring your boss to inform them when Jethro is taking over. Or any agency is stealing your case or witness. Also states that if you lose contact with the person you are watching that you report it, but he's been dead for nine days. And you didn't even know he was missing," I state.

"It went to my spam folder," Fornell informs us making Gibbs look at the ceiling and Fornell add, "This is serious, Gibbs, Alice. Alive, Hinton was just an ex-con who made a deal with the devil. Dead means the devil came to collect."

"Devil got a name?" Gibbs asks him.

"That's about all he's got. You ever heard of Kamal Konkani," Fornell informs us while pulling a file out of one of the many stacks of files. Gibbs shakes his head no while picking up the file and reading it, "Built his reputation in the early nineties manufacturing false IDs for IRA bombers. Moved around Europe one step ahead of the authorities for the next ten years. Where he went, death followed."

"Been invisible since the millennium," Gibbs states while reading the file.

"He made a fortune working for terrorists."

"Hinton wasn't a terrorist. And you know that," I state while thinking about our terrorist that Fornell protected.

"Game has changed in a decade. Documents are more sophisticated, electronic tracking, facial recognition. We think Kamal was using Hinton as a test," Fornell informs us.

"A test? For what?" Gibbs asks him.

"Homeland picked up chatter from a training facility in Libya. A terrorist cell with assurances of clean entry onto U.S. soil," Fornell informs us while handing us another piece of paperwork from another pile.

"Assurances from Kamal Konkani," I release as Gibbs reads the file.

"And with Hinton dead…"

"The only eyes on Kamal have been closed for a week," Gibbs states.

…

Gibbs pov

.

"You're telling me that there are terrorists on the way here and they could be anyone? How did this start?" Shepard demands of Fornell as we walk up the stairs towards her office. I am wearing a light cream polo under a brown jacket today, with faded blue jeans.

"With a dead man named Marvin Hinton aka Frederick LeClair," Fornell informs her.

"An ex-con looking for a new identity," I add.

"A wish your Eraser was more than happy to accommodate," Shepard comments before looking into the eye scanner for MTAC.

.

Alice pov

.

"MY boss looks mad," Krieger comments when Fornell walks into MTAC and glares at her. I am wearing my 'Instant HUMAN Just add COFFEE' T-shirt that is a bit (lot) tight across the chest area and doesn't meet with my black, bellbottom jeans, with black sneakers with red laces on the bottom. My leather jacket that Ducky gave me is at my desk. Krieger is sitting next to Ziva who I am sitting beside while Tony is leaning on the back of their chairs.

"That's Fornell," I state while dismissing her worry.

"He's going to chew you up," Ziva informs her wrongly.

"Out. Chew you out," Tony corrects her.

"Maybe not, maybe he's one of those silent killer types," Tony comments.

"Or he could just get you fired for not doing your job of reporting a missing asset. Or accuse you of murdering said asset," I calmly comment before taking a sip of my coffee.

"What do you know about this Eraser?" Shepard demands of Fornell as he comes to a stop in front of the MTAC screen and she walks past him.

"McGee," Fornell orders him making him pull up the file. Fornell reports, "Believed to be a Pakistani national raised in India and England. Made his name working with terrorists."

"Clean IDs, easy transit," Gibbs comments while walking closure to the screen so that he can read the huge font.

"Facilitated Basque terror attacks in Spain, IRA bombing in England. The GIA bombing in France in 1995."

"Killed eight, wounded hundreds, led by Khaled Kelkal," Shepard reads.

"French authorities identified the man who made it possible as Kamal Konkani," Fornell reports while pointing to the file on the screen.

"That's a lot of 'K's.' 'K's' are funny. Agent Krieger. You ever see the Sunshine boys?" Tony flirts with the FBI agent making Tony hush him angrily.

"But they weren't able to put a face to the name before he disappeared off the radar," Fornell informs us.

"Apparently, he's relocated to Maryland. Upgraded his system for taking people odd the grid," Shepard comments as McGee pulls up the map of where the new operation is happening in highland beach.

"We were tipped off to Hinton. So it's possible that Kamal dropped the dime himself to test his work," Fornell comments as Tony goes to touch Ziva's face only for her to hit his hand away… he is being extra annoying today.

"His work seems impeccable," Shepard comments.

"Now he's covering his tracks."

"And shopping the service to terrorist overseas… We had enough trouble identifying them without this added in… and we don't need another Ari on our hands," I remind them because these two stop Ari from being dealt with before he KILLED my sister and they are impressed with the new Ari. Shepard gives me an annoyed look while Fornell understands my unsaid words, they can't let this one kill someone or I might just kill them.

"I'll monitor the situation in the training camps, watch closely for any moment. I suggest you pick up Kamal's trail on this end," Shepard orders us.

"No trace. No face. This ought to be easy," Tony comments as we all get up and follow our bosses out of the room.

"Special Agent Krieger. A word," Fornell orders his agent when we exist the room.

"According to his Interpol bio, Kamal rarely ventures our of his safe house once it is established," Ziva reads out of the file she is carrying.

"Style's cloak-and-dagger. Low-tech. No call phone, no electronic messages," Tony comments.

"Smart," Gibbs states.

"So Jethro," I state making Gibbs throw me a fake annoyed look.

"He prefers to pass notes. The bureau provided several intercepted by the French twelve years ago, coded. Abby has them now," Ziva informs us as we get close to the bottom of the stairs.

"I don't give a flying crap what it states int eh handbook! You don't know enough to make a decision on your own!" Fornell yells at Krieger. I exchange a look with Gibbs before continuing down the stairs leaving Tony and Ziva talking to each other.

…

"Gonna have to mute you Duck. Nothing personal," Abby informs Ducky as we walk into the lab to see his face on the phone as she attempts to work the tattoo out still.

"No, wait. It's very pecu," Ducky begins to inform her but she mutes him anyway.

"You got something on the tattoo?" Gibbs asks Abby while looking at the tattoo on the plasma screen.

"It's a work in progress, but… I did find something about the notes that the FBI got from Kamal," Abby informs us while walking over to the notes.

"FBI code-breakers couldn't make anything of the language," I informs her calmly while walking over to her and feeling Gibbs look over my shoulder at the notes.

"No, neither could I. but the paper the notes are written on, it has a curve, so it came off of some sort of spool," Abby informs us.

"Cash register receipt," Gibbs offers while grabbing the edge of the evidence bag to look at it without moving from behind me.

"And Major Mass Spec had a field day with these smudges, decided that it's Makki Ki Roti and Sarson Ka Saag. Maize-flour bread and mustard-left sauce, which goes nice with a glass of Lassi."

"Indian food," I comment.

"Punjab, to be specific."

"Kamal likes his home cooking," Gibbs comments.

"Might add to his profile," Abby informs us making there be a moment of silence.

"It's good work," Gibbs begins.

"Gonna have to mute you, Gibbs. Don't say 'good work.' Not till I figure out the riddle of the tattoo," Abby informs him while holding a hand up so that he can't kiss her cheek making him kiss the back of the hand before leading me out of the lab.

…

"Assuming he still likes home cooking, there are fifteen Indian restaurants within a ten-mile radius of Highland beach," McGee reports while putting them up on the map above my desk as I nurse and growling Ugly Tony. She doesn't like Fornell anymore then I do. Tony is looking over McGee's shoulder while I am standing next to Gibbs near his desk.

"Kamal doesn't travel," Gibbs reminds him while looking over from where he is standing in front of the plasma screen.

"Confine the search to walking distance," Fornell orders them when they take too long.

"There is only one in the vicinity… Punjab Tandoori," McGee informs us when he finds it, while also zooming in on the place.

"Man's gotta eat. We know he's been in the area," Fornell comments.

"If he's using the same MO, passing notes. Who's he handing 'em to?" McGee asks the million dollar question making us turn to face him.

"Any chance he's got people from the old country workin' on this side?" Tony adds.

"Makes that restaurant the perfect place to hang out if he does."

"Slim chance he'd be at the restaurant himself… we've gone out on less," I state.

"Let's keep this one low-key when we go to scope it out," Fornell informs us.

"Have to go in undercover," Tony adds.

…

I am sitting in the back of the car with Fornell and Gibbs in the front, we are back up from Tony and Krieger who are undercover. The silence of the car is broken by Gibbs phone ringing.

"Yeah," Gibbs answers the phone. He informs the caller, "I see him." He ends the call why informing us, "Regular dinner delivery to a Frederick LeClair."

"That's the name our dead guy's used before. Dead guys don't eat," Fornell comments.

"Besides Ari," I remind him because he did a lot of eating when he was dead. I saw his body bag.

"So who's using it now?" Gibbs asks Fornell while starting the car and following the delivery guy.

…

"Can't be this lucky," Fornell comments as we stop across from the house and Gibbs smiles while dialling on his phone.

"Let him make the drop first, Ziva," Gibbs orders Ziva as we watch the delivery boy. He places the bag on the door step and then rings the doorbell. "Okay take him," Gibbs orders Ziva when the boy turns around and begins to leave. A black van covers our view of the house and then stopping in front of the delivery boy's scooter. Ziva gets out of the van and talks to the delivery boy for a second before grabbing his arm and forcing him into the back of the van. Fornell, Gibbs and I get out of the car quietly while drawling our guns and running towards the house. Where Ziva already is, going through the bag of food.

"Just dinner," Ziva informs us while dropping it onto the ground and raising her gun.

"The door?" Gibbs prompts Fornell when he just stands there too long.

"Allow me," Fornell comments before kicking it in. Fornell enters first and goes upstairs while Ziva follows him and stays in the office. Gibbs and I enter next, Gibbs stays in the doorway while I follow Ziva around the office checking everywhere,.

"Clear," Fornell calls out.

"Clear," Ziva repeats.

"Nobody here," I state while we all holster our guns and look around the main room that is full of maps and technology of all types.

"This is Kamal's place," Ziva comments while looking at the maps

"Yeah, or it was," Gibbs agrees with her.

"Can't have gone far," Fornell comments from the top of the stairs.

…

After looking around the main room for a little while longer we all walk out of the house. Gibbs leans over the delivery boy that is sitting on the step of the house.

"Where's the guy that lives here?" Gibbs demands of him.

"How would I know? I just deliver the food," the delivery boy informs us.

"How's he going to eat it if he's not home?" Fornell asks him from behind Gibbs.

"It's a standing dinner order. I drop off his meal every afternoon, and he pays two weeks in advance," the boy informs us as we all stand around him.

"SO you've seen him?" Tony asks as Gibbs stares at him.

"Yeah, once. Gave me a… a big wad of cash and a good tip."

"Can you describe him?"

"Okay, I guess. Older black guy, about my height, maybe a little taller."

"How about this guy? you seen him before?" I ask him while holding up the photo of our victim.

"IS this a trick question?"

"Does it look like that this is a trick question?" I demand of him.

"That's the guy that lives here."

"Frederick LeClair," McGee comments.

"Marvin Hinton," Krieger adds.

"Kamal Konkani," Ziva finishes.

"Our dead guy's our bad guy," Tony comments.

"Then who killed him?" Fornell asks us.

…

"Robert Graves. Twenty-five years old. No aliases, no priors. No passport. According to his W-4, he's been working at the restaurant six months," McGee reports in MTAC where we are all looking a live stream of integration where Graves, the delivery boy, is being integrated by Ziva.

"If you believe everything on paper," Shepard states.

"How much longer are we going to do this?" Graves asks Ziva while rolling his head back.

"Anxious to get out?" Ziva asks him.

"Wasn't planning on spending the night in custody. I have a term paper due tomorrow."

"Grad student in electrical engineering. Solid b-minus average. You grew up in Hagerstown. Nice neighbourhood?" Ziva asks him while picking at her nails.

"My parents were working class. I've had to work twice as hard as the silver spoons to get where I am," He informs her with a huff of annoyance.

"The delivery boy."

"What did I do wrong? Was there something in the package? Drugs?" Graves demands of her making Ziva smile at him before getting up and leaving the room.

"He could still be a courier and not know it. He delivers information into go-boxes," McGee comments while looking back at us from the computer he is working at.

"Returns with cash that contains the reply, and someone else at the restaurant sends on instructions to prospective clients, tucked in a meal," Fornell adds.

"It doesn't matter how he did it," Gibbs reminds him.

"Hinton played you," Shepard taunts Fornell like she wasn't played by froggy not that long ago. She continues while McGee puts a face into the file, "He was the Eraser all along."

…

"The girls have a theory," Tony informs Gibbs, Fornell, McGee and me as we walk into the squad room to see him leaning back on his chair, rather put out that he's not the one with the theory.

"The murder does not have anything to do with terrorism," Ziva begins as we all turn to face her.

"It's one of the Eraser's other clients," Krieger adds.

"So the killer could be anyone from anywhere," Fornell complains as Gibbs moves over to his desk and leans over the chair, looking at his computer.

"We have been shifting through instances involving mercury. Did not find a similar murder, but," Ziva begins.

"Idaho. Three years ago. George Barney dies in his sleep after having a few too many drinks," Krieger informs us while placing a newspaper article onto the plasma screen between Tony and McGee's desk.

"Choked to death on his own vomit," Ziva adds the important information as Gibbs stands up straight and walks over to have a closure look what we all look the screen.

"He's buried on his family farm," Krieger informs us as we all walk over to the screen.

"Last month, the Barneys are digging a new well. It turns out, the groundwater had been contaminated."

"EPA was called in, traced the source of the contamination back to a leak in George Barney's casket."

"Mercury," Gibbs states while looking at the two girls.

"His young widow had been the high school science teacher. She moved on after his untimely death," Ziva informs us.

"Local cops couldn't track her down," Krieger informs us.

"She killed her husband," McGee comments.

"Here's a picture of the grieving wife," Krieger informs us while pulling up a photo of her husband and a brunet young woman.

"Look familiar?" Tony asks while pulling up a closure photo of the wife.

…

Tony and Gibbs walks into integration the waitress, Shannon, is sitting in there. Tony walks over to the desk and drops down a stack of files he is carrying before sitting down himself. I am in the observation room watching this integration with the two girls and Fornell.

"Do you need me to identify another photo?" Shannon asks Tony as he opens the top file.

"Recognize this person?" Tony asks her while placing the photo of her and her dead husband on the table.

"Her hair matches one of the samples from Hinton's condo," Ziva comments what Abby found.

"And the murder has her signature," Krieger adds quickly.

"All right, look. It was a tragedy when my husband died. The entire town thought so," Shannon comments emotionlessly.

"Doesn't sound like you share their sentiments," Tony comments.

"They didn't know what he was like when he was drunk, which was all the time."

"So when the opportunity presented itself to start a new life, you took it."

"Wouldn't you?"

"How did Marvin Hinton know you were on the run?" Gibbs asks her.

"He know everything about me in one look, everything that matters. He knew how I'd gotten my new name. he said he'd been contacted the same way," Shannon informs him.

"SO you went him with him? Did it occur to you that he was the one who set up your new identity?" Tony asks her as Gibbs walks around her and leans into her personal space. Tony continues, "That he was toying with you? 'Cause he was the only one who knew about your past. Right?"

"I didn't kill him," Shannon informs Tony with tears in her eyes.

"I suppose it couldn't be any fun if she just admitted it," Fornell complains.

"Yes, sir," Krieger agrees with him.

"Delivery boy still here?"

"Waiting in the conference room," Ziva answers him.

"Make sure he gets home," Fornell orders us making the three of us turn to leave but he calls out, "Special Agent Krieger. Nice work today."

…

Gibbs pov

.

"She killed once for a new life," I comment as we walk into the squad room.

"Why not twice?" Tony asks as I look around but Alice isn't here and her coat is gone.

"Did us a favour… Kamal is dead," Fornell comments.

"It doesn't seem to bother his international clients," Shepard informs us.

"The terrorist training camp?" I ask her.

"Marine task force just went in."

"And?" Fornell asks her with mounting fear that we all feel.

"One terrorist killed. They found an American passport on his body. It went through squeaky clean."

"Kamal had completed the job," McGee adds.

"What about the rest of the cell?" Fornell asks her softly.

"Too late. Already gone," Shepard informs us.

"They're on their way here," I comment.

"And the only man who knows who they are is past telling us," Tony adds.

"That's not certain, Tony," Ducky informs us while entering the squad room. He continues, "Our dead man may have one thing left to say."

…

"We cracked it, Gibbs, me and Ducky. We solved the puzzle. We were just looking at it wrong," Abby exclaims as we enter the lab to see her holding s piece of skin.

"Yeah, it was Jordan… Um, Dr Hampton who had the idea of existing the section of the inked flesh," Ducky informs us.

"That is so gross," Tony complains.

"But what we found is so cool. The blotchy thick, blue jailhouse dye… that's just a camouflage… Alice got it in one, a coverup of the real tattoo," Abby informs us excitedly.

"Yes, the real clue is underneath, hidden like a painted-over Monet canvas," Ducky informs us as Abby flips the skin over showing the inside of the skin but you can't see the tattoo.

"All I had to do was eliminate the clue to clarify it," Abby informs us while finally putting the skin down and walking over to her computer and pulling up the program that slowly removes the coverup tattoo. She continues to talk, "This… is the original tattoo. It's beautiful, with deeper needling." It is a tiger with a half circle around it.

"Professional work," I comment.

"It's a masterpiece, it's a Blain Parker. He's something of a legend, Boston artist," Abby informs us happily.

"A man like Hinton trying to shed his past," Fornell says while looking over my shoulder.

"So I talked to Parker's assistant, and she was able to determine the exact dates when Hinton got the original tattoo," Abby informs us.

"Over a period of several days, ten years ago," Ducky informs us making me turn to face him… we have the wrong idea again.

"Interpol's timeline, puts Kamal in London ten years ago," Tony reminds us.

"Hinton's not Kamal. Delivery boy lied to us," Fornell comments.

"Yeah, he did more than that, he set us up. He wanted us to believe it was Hinton," I remind him as I turn to face him.

"You think the kid's Kamal?" Fornell asks me in surprise. He continues, "He would have to start when he was eight years old."

"Not if he's the new Dread pirate Roberts," Tony comments making Abby gasp.

"I love _The Princess Bride._ No one would ever surrender to the Dread Pirate Westly," Abby exclaims making Tony laugh at her until I walk around to face them making Tony choke on his laughter fit.

"The Dread Pirate Roberts picks a successor, then trains him, starts calling him Roberts and then settles into a cushy retirement. It's the name 'Kamal' that sell the business," Tony informs us.

…

Alice pov

.

"You can let me off up here," Graves informs us as we drive down a random street. Ziva is driving the car with Krieger in the passenger seat and I am sitting in the back with Graves. We pull over to the side of the road and Krieger gets out and walks to the back to let Graves out of the car.

"Sorry for the inconvenience," Krieger apologies as Graves gets out of the car.

"Just a case of mistaken identity," Graves dismisses the mistake making me blink because no one is that careless about being arrested for murder.

"Good luck on your turn paper."

"Thanks," Graves says as my phone begins to ring.

"Alice, where are you?" Gibbs demands of me.

"Dropping off the delivery boy like Fornell said to," I answer him without much thought.

"Don't," Gibbs orders me. Graves looks at me and Ziva before grabbing Krieger and taking her gun while shoving her out of his way. He fires into the car as Ziva jumps out but my door won't open. He hits the window above Ziva before turning and firing into the back of the car where I am. I am trapped in the car as he empties the clip into the car with me.

"Alice," Gibbs calls from the phone that I dropped, as Krieger jumps up from where she lands and slams Graves hand into the open car door. She quickly slams his face into the roof of the car and then drops him to the ground where he lays unconscious.

"Can we hug now?" Krieger asks Ziva making her laugh while pointing her gun at Graves.

"Are you alright?" Ziva calls into me while looking in throw the door to see me.

"Jethro is going to kill him," I hiss while attempting to see where the blood is coming from but I can't feel it because of the adrenaline running throw my body. I watch Ziva reach in to the car and pick up my phone but the top is shot off, meaning I need a new phone and Gibbs is going to be freaking out.

…

Gibbs pov

.

Fornell and I walk into integration where Graves is again. I walk to the corner and grab a chair, carrying it over to the table and sitting down. This guy is going to be in a world of pain, not only did he lie to us, he shot at my girls… no one does that and lives to tell the story anymore.

"From your closet," Fornell comments as I lay out all the outfits he had in his closet.

"Special delivery," I state.

"How did you find Kamal?" Fornell asks him as he leans back, very relaxed in his chair.

"You don't find Kamal. Kamal finds you," Graves informs us.

"He tempt you with the money or the power? Or just the chance to become somebody else?"

"Kamal could tell you needed him," I state with false calm.

"He needed me. He can't even work his own computer. Man's a dinosaur," Graves corrects me.

"He knows how to read people."

"Cover his tracks. But you don't have the discipline. Hinton figured you out."

"He would've led the FBI right to you," I add.

"So you killed him before he got the chance. Made us think he was Kamal. Then you framed another client for his murder."

"Shannon O'Hara, aka Karan Barney."

"You knew how she'd killed in the past. She was your first client."

"Good for you. You've got the whole story," Graves says while smiling at Fornell.

"The worst mistake you made," I begin making him look at me with fear in his eyes.

"You tried to shoot our agents," Fornell continues.

"You hurt my girl," I add calmly. We stand up and Fornell removes his jacket making me say, "Hey, let me hand that up for you, Tobias!" Fornell hands me his coat and I throw it over the camera, giving us complete privacy. Graves goes to get up know that he knows he is in danger.

"Sit down!" Fornell yells while forcing him back into his chair and then forcing all the photos off the table onto the floor as I lean over him.

"What do you want?" Graves asks with fear in his voice for the first time ever,

"The rest of your client list," I snap at him and when he fails to answers me I get into his face more and order him, "Tell us where to find the real Kamal!" Fornell rolls his sleeves up and leans on the table on the other side to me, with Graves in the middle of us. I slam my hand onto the table while yelling, "Now!" making Grave jump in fear of me.

…

Alice pov

.

Gibbs, Ziva, Tony and I are sitting in MTAC waiting for the take-down to happen. Tony is eating popcorn by throwing it into his mouth. I have my right arm in a sling again, he managed to shoot the same shoulder as Ari. I am also covered in cuts from the glass raining down on me. It turns out someone had placed the child safety on, on both of the back doors so that it can only be opened from the outside. Gibbs is waring a green shirt over his normal white t-shirt with the black and white jacket that looks grey from a distances, and I wearing a white button up shirt with a pair of black jeans today.

"I was at an embassy party once… gated, razor wire, surveillance systems, the whole deal and this guy just walks in the front door, wearing T-shirt that says, 'Liquor store.' Holds up a brown paper bag, and he goes, 'Did anyone order a bottle of vodka?'" Tony informs us making Gibbs smile where he is sitting beside me.

"The places you can access when you look the part," Ziva comments.

"This thing starts kind of slow."

"I'm sure it gets better."

"The pictures up, boss," McGee informs us from the computer while putting up the recording.

"An NCIS production. Brought to you by Leeroy Jethro Gibbs. Staring, as usual, the FBI, and the elusive Kamal Konkani," Tony commentates as the live recording begins with Krieger running past the camera making Gibbs laugh.

"Freeze it," Gibbs orders when the camera is showing Fornell and Krieger with an older bald man, making McGee stop the recording.

"Hm, the Dread Pirate Roberts, I presume."

"Did you get her number?" Ziva asks Tony.

"Who, Courtney? No?" Tony answers her.

"I did. She wants to learn how to fight," Ziva taunts him before stealing the piece of popcorn Tony just throw making Gibbs look at her in surprise.

…

"Jethro, I'm fine," I exclaims when he is looking at me like I will break if he looks away, as I sit at my desk filling at the paperwork for this case.

"You could have been killed today," Gibbs reminds me.

"But I wasn't. Krieger saved me," I remind him calmly.

"But you could have," Gibbs states.

"Jethro, I didn't and if you want to worry about every time I might have been killed on this job, you're going to drive yourself back into retirement or death," I state while giving up on doing the report and walking over to him, sitting on the edge of his desk. I continue, "You need to stop worrying. I could die every day that I come to work. I could have died if I stood slight further in front of Gerald. I could have died if Ari shot slightly to the right and killed me instead of Kate. I could have died if the y-pestis didn't have a cut off time. I could have died if Kate didn't take me in when she did. There is a hundred other times that I could have died."

"I still don't like it," Gibbs mumbles while placing his hand on my lip that is split from the glass.

"You don't have to like it, but it's not going to change," I state softly.

"You're never going to leave this job, are you?" Gibbs asks me softly.

"Not that I can see. I like helping people and putting the bad guys away. While pissing off the FBI and Shepard," I inform him with a grin before leaning down and placing a gently kiss on his lips.

"Your sure your fine?" Gibbs begs of me.

"Yeah, I'm fine… annoyed that I couldn't get out of the car and that we were tricked by that kid. But fine," I promise him.


	8. Married ()

"Abby," I call as I walk into the lab with my arm in a sling. The rest of the team is doing paperwork but I have gotten bored and finished what I needed to do today. I don't know who is freaking out more, Ducky or Gibbs, neither of them are allowing me to carry my coffee, let allow work.

"Alice," Abby greets with me with a grin as I sit down on a chair.

"I'm bored," I complain.

"Yeah?" Abby asks me with a bigger grin.

"They're over reacting. All I did was get shot, not like I got y-pestis," I complains.

"You got shot, Alice."

"I know. I can feel that," I state with a pout.

"Then, I don't think they're over reacting," Abby informs me.

"But… Abby, they're not letting me do anything. It's boring. I like working," I complain while dramatic throwing my head back only to pull on the strictures making me groan in pain while sitting back up properly.

"Alice…"

"Bitch is allowed to work," I cut her off.

"She's not injured," Abby reminds me.

"She had the glass rain down on her too. But she's out there working right now," I exclaims annoyed that there is two different rules going on.

"She wasn't shot," Abby informs me calmly.

"You're supposed to agree with me," I complain.

"You're not supposed to be shot. But that didn't happen either," Abby reminds me calmly.

"Abby," I whine.

"Alice," Abby repeats with a grin.

"I hate you. Why couldn't you agree with me?" I complain.

"Because I agree with Gibbs."

"Kiss ass," I hiss at her.

"I'm not the one dating the boss," Abby laughs at me.

"You're the one missing out there," I state calmly.

"Nah, can't stand wood dust," Abby demising me before adding, "Did you get a new phone yet?"

"Yeah, McGee picked it," I answer her while pulling out a I-phone that McGee got me. I hand it over to Abby to have a look at. The lock screen background is Kate and me standing at a random crime scene that Tony took. The normal screen is a photo of Gibbs and me kissing in the hospital.

"Oh… this is the new I-phone that was just released? The new smart phone?" Abby asks me excitedly.

"Yeah… it's one of them," I agree with her. I continue, "There's a bet going on about how long until I break it. You want in?"

"Yeah, sure," Abby answers me with a grin.

"I'll get Tony to email it to you. He wouldn't let me to see it, encase I break it on purpose to help someone win," I inform her calmly.

"Smart," Abby says with a grin while looking the phone over.

"IT's Tony. Wrong word… sore loser," I correct her.

"True," Abby answers me with a grin.

"Wanna know the worst bit?" I ask Abby while changing topic.

"What?" Abby asks me while typing away at her computer.

"Jethro wouldn't even have sex with me because he might hurt me," I complain with a pout making her laugh. I continue, "I got laid more when he was in Mexico… might as well get married."

"That's a thought," Gibbs comments as he walks into the lab. He walks over to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder.

"Jethro, what's up?" I ask him as I happily lean into his chest.

"Looking for the missing agent," Gibbs informs me calmly.

"I'm not missing. Abby knows where I am," I inform him with a grin making me half-smile at me as Abby giggles.

"Don't bring me into this," Abby exclaims while returning to her work.

"Let's leave Abby to her work," Gibbs orders me while using the arm around my shoulder to pull me up off the idea.

"But Abby and I were having a deep conversation," I complain to him as I happily get up to follow him anyway.

"No, we weren't," Abby corrects me with a chuckle before continuing, "You were complaining about being shot."

"That's deep… It touched my bone," I exclaim making her laugh louder at me as I leave the lab with a smirking Gibbs. Gibbs leads me into the elevator and presses the button for the squad room making me pout because I wanted to do that. I like pushing the buttons.

"You have down there?" Gibbs asks me with a grin.

"Abby's always fun," I answer him with a happy laugh.

"She's not the only one," Gibbs mumbles making me look up at him in confusion but he just looks straight forward without commenting.

"Why where you looking for me?" I ask him softly.

"I wasn't," Gibbs informs me.

"Right," I says while dragging the word out.

"Tony was annoying me. It was find you or shot him. And I am not doing the paperwork for shotting him again."

"Again… can I shot him?"

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Can I shot Shepard?"

"Hell no."

"Why not? She had it coming. Repeatedly," I beg of him while giving him my puppy dog eyes.

"She might but you can't shoot the director of NCIS."

"Yes I can."

"Okay, you can. But it is _morally_ wrong to shoot the director of NCIS," Gibbs informs me while correcting himself.

"But it's not morally wrong to build a team while under the influence?" I ask him with a teasing smile as the elevator door opens and I step out before he can respond to me. I grab his hand to pull him behind me.

"I wasn't drinking on the job," Gibbs hisses in my ear making me shiver at the feeling of his breath on my ear.

"Insane?" I ask him as I attempt to make my voice steady but I hear the hitch in my own voice and feel Gibbs silently chuckling at me and my reaction to him. We walk into the squad room together to see that Tony is throwing paper balls at McGee.

"I'm going for coffee," Gibbs informs me as I sit down at my desk. I node as Gibbs grabs his stuff and leaves the squad room again.

"So, Alice. What were you doing?" Tony asks while turning his attention from McGee to me.

"Nothing that you need to know," I answer him as I log back onto my computer.

"Boss seemed to be gone for a while… and so you were," Tony teases me while getting up and walking over to my desk where he sits on the edge of. He continues, "And suddenly Gibbs needs a coffee."

"Jethro always needs a coffee. That's nothing new," I remind him calmly while opening my email to see that Burley has sent me a file and asking me to give it a look over because he has been staring at it and needs a new set of eyes.

"But I bet he needs one after sex," Tony states while picking up a pen off my desk. I look at him before rolling my eyes while thinking about it but Gibbs has never had coffee after we made love.

"I am not going to talk about this, Tony," I inform him while snatching the pen out of his hands.

"So, it's true?" Tony asks me hopefully.

"I am beginning to think that you really do want to fuck Jethro… because that's not going to happen. I'll shoot you first," I state while opening the file.

"Why would you say that?" Tony asks me with a disgusted face.

"Just something I've noticed over the years of working with you," I state while beginning to read the file and hoping that if Tony sees I am working he will leave me alone but that's not going to happen when it's Tony.

"So tell me. What were you doing?" Tony asks me.

"Trying to get permission to shot you… why what were you doing?" I answer him with a straight face making him blink in surprise.

"Shoot me?" Tony asks me with a high squeaky voice.

"Yep. But I only got permission to shot the bitch," I inform Tony making me blink slowly.

"But you're not going to shoot me?" Tony begs of me.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"How annoying you are," I answer him making him quickly get up and walk back to his desk making me smirk as I continue to read the file.

…

()

I walk down the stairs into the basement to see Gibbs working on his boat. I slowly work down the stairs while watching his back move as he continues to sand the boat.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Gibbs informs me without looking at me but I know he is smirking.

"Nah. I like the live version more," I inform him as I continue to walk down the stairs and over to him.

"Cheeky," Gibbs comments as I pull him into a backwards hug, to the best of my ability with my arm still in a sling.

"You love it," I respond while snuggling further into his back.

"No, I love you. I deal with it," Gibbs corrects me calmly making me laugh at him.

"Well, I know you're a liar," I state making Gibbs laugh at me as he continues to slowly sand the boat.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gibbs informs me with fake confusion.

"That's because your old."

"I am not old," Gibbs exclaims while putting the sander down and turning to face me.

"No of course not," I say with a straight face before continuing, "Your ancient. Can expect you to understand, well, anything." I then turn and run back up the stairs as quick as I can. I hear Gibbs chasing me the stairs.

"Alice," Gibbs calls after me making me quickly turn and run up the stairs into the bedroom and around the bed so that it is between me and Gibbs.

"Jethro," I copy him.

"I am not ancient," Gibbs exclaims while standing in the doorway.

"Right… and I'm the queen of England," I tease him more.

"Alice," Gibbs exclaims while walking further into the room.

"What Jethro?" I ask him with a grin as I continue to back up further.

"Your being mean," Gibbs informs me while walking around the bed towards me but I jump onto the bed and begin to climb over it.

"I'm not being mean. I am being honest," I inform him as I attempt to across the bed faster.

"No, you're being mean," Gibbs corrects me as he continues to walk around the bed.

"Nooo. Your wrong," I exclaim as Gibbs begins to follow onto the bed but I attempt to exist the bed of the other side.

"No, you don't," Gibbs exclaims while grabbing my leg and pulling me back onto the bed making me laugh.

"Let me go, Jethro," I exclaim while trying to get away from him.

"No," Gibbs informs me while pulling me back under his body.

"Yes," I exclaim while wiggling under his body in an attempt to get out from him hold.

"No. you are being mean," Gibbs informs me while wrapping his right arm around my chest holding me against his body while using his left arm to tickle me making me laugh while attempting to get out from his hold.

"Jethro," I scream through my laughter making him chuckle.

"Say that I am not ancient," Gibbs orders me while continuing to tickle me.

"Nooo," I laugh out as I continue to attempt to get away from him.

"Yes," Gibbs orders me while ceasing the tickling but continues to hold me against his body making me laugh.

"But you are old," I complain.

"And yet you are still dating me," Gibbs reminds me while placing a kiss on my neck.

"Not my fault," I defend myself as Gibbs continues to kiss my neck.

"Whose fault is it, then?" Gibbs asks me without even stopping kissing me.

"Yours," I exclaim while attempting to ignore his actions.

"How's it mine?"

"Because your too good looking," I answer him making him hum against my neck. Gibbs gently sucks on my neck making me moan as he rubs his right hand against my breast. I reach back with my left hand and grab onto Gibbs hair, holding him against my neck.

"I don't know. I think I was tricked by you," Gibbs whispers into my ear making me hold back a moan.

"How?" I manage to gasp out.

"Because of that red dress," Gibbs answers me before leaning around me to kiss my lips. I kiss him back while turning around to face him with my back flat on the bed. I wrap my left hand around his shoulders while he leans on his right arm above me and uses his left hand to feel my breast through my shirt.

"Not my fault," I state while leaning up and kissing his neck. Gibbs runs his hand down my body to my hip which he holds as I kiss his neck and gently bite it, but hard enough to leave a make that says he's mine.

"Alice," Gibbs groans out in pleasure while gripping my hip tightly.

"What?" I ask him as I run my hand down his back and grab his shirt. I begin to pull it up his shirt until I got to his shoulders. I pull back and allow him to remove the shirt the rest of the way. The second the shirt is out of the way I continue to kiss his neck and down his shoulder to his chest. And I then kiss down to his nipple that I take into his mouth where I suck on it. I wrap my legs around his waist and begin to grind against his cock that is slowly coming to life.

"Alice," Gibbs gasps out again before pulling away from me.

"Jethro," I complain.

"We can't," Gibbs exclaims while getting off the bed.

"Why not" I complain while sitting up and looking at him in confusion. Why can't we? Were both consenting adults.

"Because," Gibbs exclaims.

"Because why?" I demand of him but he doesn't answer me making me blink. I demand of him, "Jethro?"

"Because I might hurt you," Gibbs exclaims without looking at me.

"Jethro," I begin.

"I am noting going to risk hurting you," Gibbs cuts me off while looking more lost then I have ever seen him.

"Jethro, you're not going to hurt me," I exclaim while crawling across the bed and placing my hand on his arm.

"You can't know that," Gibbs exclaims.

"I know you. That's all I need," I promise him.

"I don't want to risk it," Gibbs exclaims.

"Fine," I say before getting a wicked idea.

"I love you, baby," Gibbs says to me.

"I love you too, Jethro," I say while laying back across the bed while looking at the man. I continue, "If you're so afraid that you will hurt me. I guess I'll just have to take care of myself." I run my hand down my body from my shoulder to beasts that I grab through my shirt. I moan before running my hand further down my body to the bottom of the shirt that I grab and pull up and off my body but it is still on my right arm. I run my hand around my left nipple before I gently pull on it while watching Gibbs who is watching my hands.

"Stop that," Gibbs orders me without ever taking his eyes of my hand.

"Why?" I ask him as I run my hand further down my body to just above my pants which I run my finger along.

"Because," Gibbs orders me while continuing to watch my hand.

"Because why?" I ask him again while running my hand under the band of my finger.

"Alice," Gibbs groans while watching. He orders me, "Remove the pants." I smirk while unbuttoning my jeans and push them off my hips and down off my body. I am just wearing a black G-string making Gibbs groan while running his hand over his still covered cock. I smirk while running my finger over my covered pussy gently while moaning and closing my eyes at the feeling of my fingers on myself.

"Oh," I moan as I continue to run my finger over my pussy through the clothing.

"Alice," Gibbs moans before the bed dips and his hand is moving my hand away and replacing his own making me moan louder.

"Jethro," I gasp out while grabbing his arm.

"You shouldn't have done that," Gibbs informs me while leaning down and kissing my shoulder. He grinds his budging cock onto my leg while running his finger over me. He moves my panties out of the way and run his finger through my wet pussy making me moan.

"Jethro," I moan out as I turn my head and kiss him.

"You like that baby?" Gibbs asks me while gently entering his finger into me making me moan.

"Please," I beg of him while kissing him again. Gibbs quickly deepens the kiss while adding a second fear inside of me and speeding the movements up.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Gibbs mumbles but he doesn't stop this time.

"If you stop this time. I will burn your boat," I threaten him.

"I don't want to hurt you," Gibbs repeats while removing his fingers from me and placing the into his mouth to clean them.

"Jethro," I whine making him groan before removing his pants and underwear.

"I do love these panties," Gibbs informs me while running his hand over the G-string gently before pulling them off my body and dropping them onto the ground. I lean in and kiss him again as he grabs my hips tightly. He removes his hands from my shoulder and reaches up and removes my sling so that he is can then remove my shirt leaving me with just my band-aid on my shoulder.

"Jethro," I moan as Gibbs leans down and kisses my shoulder while grabbing my hips again.

"Come here," Gibbs orders me while gently pulling me onto his lap so that I am sitting on his lap. He leans up and kiss me while running his hand up and down my back. I reach down and grab his rock hard cock and line it up with myself and gently sink down onto him making us both moan in pleasure.

"Jethro," I moan as I slowly begins to bounce on his cock while using my left hand to hold me up on him and wrapping my right arm around his shoulder completely.

"Alice, baby. Fast," Gibbs orders me while using the hands on my hips to bounce me faster and harder.

"Jethro," I gasp out as I grip his shoulder, making my nails dig into his shoulder.

"Come on, baby," Gibbs says while groaning and dropping his head so that it is resting on my shoulder that he sucks on.

"Jethro," I moan while bouncing on his cock as faster as I can which makes me moan in pleasure. Gibbs removes his head from my shoulder to look down on my body, and his eyes lock on where his cock is disappearing into my body. Gibbs reaches down my body and gently rubs my clitoris making me moan.

"Come on Alice. You need to cum," Gibbs orders me breathlessly making me moan louder while grabbing his shoulders tighter.

"Jethro," I moan as I cum all over his cock, while stopping my movement making Gibbs grab my hips and bounce me on his cock making me moan loudly at the feeling. Gibbs bounces me until I come down and I can bounce myself on him and he chases his release.

"Alice, I'm cumin," Gibbs warns me before cumin inside of me making us groan in pleasure. Gibbs lays back down on the bed and I lay on top of him.

"See. You didn't hurt me," I tease him gently while placing a kiss on his chest.


	9. Leap of Faith

**_I have made the decision that I will be only updating every second Sunday. I do apologies for those that look forward to the update each week but I am unable to write the chapters fast enough… thank you for all the lovely reviews and for the love of yours who have read my stories._**

We arrive at the would-be crime scene to see it is surrounded by people watching and the news because the guy hasn't jumped yet. I am in the car with Gibbs while the rest of the team is traveling in the van with the equipment. The local cops push the crowd back before opening the fence so that we can park safely behind it and not have to fight the crowd and news to get in without Gibbs saying something that can be miscued again. I am wearing a red t-shirt with black jeans and my NCIS jacket while Gibbs is wearing a black polo shirt over his white t-shirt and his NCIS jacket. Gibbs collar isn't rolled down at all. As we get out of the car we both grab out hats off the dash of the bar and I put my on while Gibbs talks to the local cop in charge for the moment.

"Your sailor's real nervous," The local cop informs Gibbs while looking up at the man on the ledge. He continues as we walk into the scene more and Gibbs shakes his hat, "Tried to talk to him, but he's not making a lot of sense."

"You get his name?" Gibbs asks him.

"No. Shut down… threated to jump if we didn't back off… hose jockeys want to set an airbag," he informs us as we walk past the fire brigade.

"That height? Don't think it's going to make much of a difference… besides it wouldn't fit into our lab to collect the victim," I comment while looking up at the guy.

…

"Okay, so what you want to do her is gain his confidence here, boss. He's been out there for a while. He's obviously having second thoughts," Tony informs Gibbs as we excite the stairs onto the roof. Gibbs has finally put his hat on but only rolled the front of his collar down, looks good.

"Tony, shut up. You said the same thing about Ari… and we got shot," I remind him with an eye roll as we walk towards the ledge, why does he think he knows more that Gibbs? And why does it always come across as annoying when he is trying to tell Gibbs what to do?

"Stay," Gibbs orders us while raising his hand to make us stay. When he is sure that we are going to obey him, he walks over to the ledge and looks out at the man.

"Get away from me," the man yells at Gibbs.

"Just want to talk," Gibbs calls back while leaning onto the ledge with his hands hanging over.

"No!" the man yells at him.

"Make it easier if I knew your name," Gibbs informs him calmly. He doesn't answer him making Gibbs lean out further while I grip the bottom of my jacket. He asks him, "Where you stationed?"

"I said leave me alone!" the man exclaims making Gibbs look at him for a moment before coming away from the edge and I breath a sign of relief. Even knowing there is a ledge, I don't like him being so closure to the edge. Anything can happen.

"Boss, you know, we could snap a picture of him with a cell, email it to Abby, get her to run it through photo-recognition," McGee begins to explain to Gibbs as Gibbs takes his hat off and hands it to me. He puts in an earwig while listening to McGee explain, "Id he went to the academy, we get a quick ID."

"Do it," Gibbs orders him.

"Me?" McGee asks him in surprise.

"It's your idea, McGee," Gibbs states like McGee's an idiot for asking.

"Right," McGee say before taking a deep breath and walking over to the ledge.

"Don't look down. Makes it worse," I inform McGee as he walks past me but the second he gets to the ledge he looks down making me roll my eyes. He climbs up one step without looking away from the ground making him to afraid to get up to do his job.

"Um, Boss," McGee calls out while hanging onto the side of the ladder in fear. Gibbs walks over to beside McGee making him admit, "I'm not very good with heights." Gibbs snatches the camera phone and climbs up around McGee who is still hanging off the side of the ladder. I walk over and place my hands on McGee's back to help him down, even knowing that if he falls he is going to hit the ground and I will probably rip my stiches out of my shoulder. He calls up to Gibbs as he steps onto the ledge with one foot making me chew on my lip, "Point. Point and click."

"Don't come any closure!" the man orders Gibbs as he aims the camera and when Gibbs fails to answer him he demands, "What are you doing?"

"Wouldn't give me your name. want to know who you are," Gibbs answers him as he takes the photo making me hope he well step of the ledge beck to safety. But instead he hands McGee back the phone and steps completely onto the ledge making me reach out to grab the back of his coat to stop him but he has already stepped out of my immediate reach.

"Jethro," I hiss because there has to be other ways then stepping out onto the ledge with the jumper.

"Great view of the Washington monument from up here," Gibbs comments as I help McGee down and fight myself not to look at where Jethro is standing. McGee kneels down once he is on the ground and sends Abby the photo of the jumper as I tightly grip Gibbs hand in my hand and chew on my lip. Why does he have to do this to me? And why does it worry me if he didn't?

"McGee, he's got a gun," Abby informs us over the phone.

"Jethro, he's got a gun," I inform Gibbs over the radio he is wearing as we spread out to get a shot.

"Yeah. Yeah. I know that, Alice. I see that," Gibbs informs me making me attempt to aim at the guy from back near the door over the building they are leaning against but Gibbs fat head is getting in my way. Tony is aiming over the ledge but Gibbs while be in his way while Ziva is aiming over the ledge on the other side but I don't know if she can take the shot. McGee stayed at the building near the ladder to talk to Abby.

"Jethro, please get down," I beg of him but I know he wouldn't.

"Boss, his name is Lieutenant Michael Arnett. Stationed at the Pentagon. Academy class of oh-one. He's a linguist, translator. Married, no kids," McGee informs Gibbs over the radio so that we can all hear.

"So, Michael?" Gibbs says casually like he is talking about the weather making Michael look at him. He asks, "You mind if I call you Michael?"

"You can't help," Michael informs Gibbs angrily.

"I can try," Gibbs informs him while walking further out onto the ledge making me bite my lower lip. When he gets back onto this roof I am going to kill him.

"Don't," Michael orders him making Gibbs freeze.

"I do not have a shout. I'll hit Gibbs, too," Ziva informs us.

"Move your fat head, Jethro," I hiss at him.

"Lean back, boss. Just ease back," Tony orders Gibbs who then turns more completely blocking any possible shot.

"Damn it Jethro," I exclaim while trying to think of a way to get him out of the way but there isn't any way to make him move if he doesn't want to, he's too heavy.

"All right, boss, his wife works at a travel agency on K street. Name's Dana. She's at lunch. Her boss has no idea where she went," McGee informs us from his place at the building.

"Trying to get a hold of your wife. You want to talk to her?" Gibbs asks him calmly.

"No!" Michael exclaims while shaking his head no angrily. He hesitates a moment before informing Gibbs, "She left me."

"Yeah. I've been there… that's tough. It's not worth your life," Gibbs informs him.

"It's more complicated than that."

"Tell me," Gibbs orders him with taking a couple of steps closure to him.

"It's too late."

"He's got a sister. Her name's Rachel," McGee informs us.

"You want to talk to Rachel?" Gibbs asks him and after a moment he asks, "How old is she?"

"Seventeen," Michael answers him.

"Seventeen? What's that make her… a senior in high school?" Gibbs asks him. He continues, "You want Rachel to remember this from her senior year?" Gibbs looks as Michael who is staring down at the ground and almost crying making Gibbs state, "I don't want to make that call, Mike." Michael looks between Gibbs and the ground a couple of times making Gibbs asks, "Why don't we start with her gun, huh?"

"I really messed up. I should have told someone," Michael informs Gibbs after a long moment of silence while he thinks about what to say.

"You can tell me," Gibbs promise him. He continues as Michael looks between him and the ground, "I'll help you. Youi can trust me. Put it down." Gibbs quickly looks at the gun and then back to Michael and falls silent. Michael disappears from my sights slowly and I hear the sound of a gun hitting the cement they are standing on. We all holster our guns know that the threat is dealt with, but Gibbs is going to be in a world of pain when he gets off that ledge. Gibbs promise him, "I'll help you… take it real easy." Gibbs then begins to shuffle over the ledge closure to Michael. He holds out his hand for Michael to take to help him back over the ledge and after a moment of thought Michael turns to take the hand with his right hand. Moment before he grabs Gibbs hand there is a gun shot making me drop to the ground and drawler my gun again while looking for where the shot came from but I just see Michael fall off the ledge leaving only Gibbs on the ledge and I feel back for being glade to see his is still there.

…

"Slug is flattened. Not much for Abby to work with," Ziva informs us while walking up to where we are standing on the ground next to the NCIS van and Gibbs is more staring at the ledge then listening to what is happening around him so I am taking notes and doing his job. If that bullet was slightly off he would be dead and if that bullet didn't come Michael will still be alive.

"She had success with less," I informs him when I look at the bullet and Gibbs begins to walk away and I follow him.

"Shot definitely came from the building across from the hotel," Tony informs us.

"Door to the rooftop was picked. No shell casings, no prints, nothing. Several people in the building heard the shot," McGee continues.

"McGee, we heard the shot," I state while writing down what he said anyway.

"Witnesses on the street saw the flash," McGee continues while ignoring my jab at him.

"Guy's going to kill himself. When he doesn't, someone does it for him. Why?" Tony asks as we continue to follow Gibbs who is only looking at the ground while swinging his cap in his hand.

"Arnett's apartment. Please," I say to them when Gibbs walks away without giving them an order but I stop to talk to him.

"Is he going to be alright?" Ziva asks me while pointing at Gibbs.

"Eventually. I have seen him like this once before. And the last time it took killing Ari to get Jethro back," I answer her calmly. I continue, "This time if he offers you coffee, don't freak out." Once I have said my peace I run after Gibbs. I catch up to him when he comes to a stop next to the autopsy van watching Jimmy put Michael into a bag and I place my hand on his lower back letting him know I am here for him.

"Having an eyewitness like you makes my job a lot easier," Ducky informs Gibbs while walking into his personal space and blocking Gibbs view of Michael.

"Dad, this became person the second someone killed a man as he was willing to get off the ledge on the correct side," I inform him calmly but getting the point across that Gibbs needs answers more than he needs coffee.

"Nevertheless, I will get you autopsy results post-haste," Ducky finishes.

"Thanks, Duck," Gibbs says softly.

"Thanks, dad. This boy didn't deserve to die today," I say softly while looking at the body. This is going to be a long case and I hope it doesn't drive Gibbs to do something illegal.

Ducky looks as us for a moment before turning around and walking back to Jimmy to help load Michael for transport.

…

"Jethro, are you alright?" I ask him as we ride in the elevator down to autopsy. Gibbs is know wearing a light green polo shirt because his black on had blood on it. He is also wearing a light brown jacket over top. I have placed my leather jacket over the back of my chair in the squad room.

"Yes," Gibbs lies.

"You are a bad liar. But if you feel like talking, I am always here," I promise him while gently squeezing his hand. We exist the elevator when he reaches autopsy without saying anything else.

"I'm fast, but I'm not that fast," Ducky informs us as we walk into autopsy to see him looking at the x-rays of Michael. Gibbs walks over to Michael and stares at him making Ducky walk past him to the desk while asking, "Something still bothering you?"

"Yeah," Gibbs answers him.

"We're investigating a homicide and a suicide, dad," I explain to him and this is something unusual because normally we don't investigate suicides.

"Was the reason the lieutenant was out on the ledge the same reason that he was shot" Jimmy asks us. But Gibbs gives him a look that says he is stupid for asking us that making him add, "I guess you wouldn't know that yet, would you?"

"He was coming in," Gibbs informs them making Ducky look at him in surprise. After a moment Gibbs continues, "Wanted to tell me something."

"Do you think you could get him to say it know?" I ask Ducky hopefully because that is the only thing we have to go on at the moment.

…

"Uh, he was sleeping on an air mattress, boss," Tony informs us as we walk into the squad room to see him standing in front of Ziva's desk.

"The wife?" Gibbs demands while walking over to his desk and I sit on the edge of mine to see that someone brought Chinese food.

"Staying at Lafayette Court Hotel. She's coming in at five o'clock. Wants to talk to Arnett's parents first," Ziva reports.

"Would have bet we'd find a suicide not. No luck," Tony informs us.

"Didn't think you would," I inform him while picking up the fortune cookie off of my desk and opening it and reading it. It says, 'be on the lookout for coming events; they cast their shadows beforehand.'

"I took his computer down to Abby. Maybe she will get lucky," Ziva informs us as Gibbs walks to the middle of the squad room looking at the plasma between Tony and McGee's desk.

"He's a second-generation American. Grandparents emigrated from Syria. His fluency in Arabic led to his advancement and special assignments in the middle east. Presently assigned at the office of the deputy secretary of defence for combating terrorism," McGee reports while pulling up Michael's file. Gibbs phone begins to ring as McGee adds while Gibbs walks back over to his ringing landline, "Other than that, I can't tell you much. I'm getting stonewalled by the pentagon. They won't even connect me to his CO."

"Yeah, Gibbs," Gibbs answers the phone while sitting down at his computer and typing a couple keys only to say, "Yep, on my way." He hangs up the call while getting up and saying, "Let's go, Alice, McGee. You're with me." We both get up and walk to MTAC as a group to see Shepard and a man on the MTAC screen.

"Special Agent Gibbs. Captain Walsh, lieutenant Arnett's CO," Shepard interduces Gibbs.

"You're a hard man to reach," Gibbs states without greeting him.

"My hands were tied. I had to get permission from the director of national intelligence to talk to you," Walsh informs us.

"SecNav has to make a decision," Shepard informs Gibbs.

"Unless you can tell me lieutenant Arnett's murder was unrelated to his navy duties, my unit's going into lockdown."

"I can't tell you that, Captain," Gibbs informs him.

"We're just beginning our investigation," I inform him calmly.

"How longs is this going to take?" Walsh demands of us.

"At this point," Gibbs exclaims while pulling a thinking face before informing him, "No one will even tell me what Arnett does."

"Did."

"Captain Walsh just briefed me on Lieutenant Arnett's general duties," Shepard informs us making me raise my eyebrow. And when was she planning on briefing us? Shepard informs us, Gibbs, "He was an Arab-speaking intelligence officer, working assets in the middle east."

"Personally responsible for exposing a number of Al-Qaeda ops. I'm sure he was high on their hit list."

"What was he working on?" I demand of him.

"Tracking down an Al-Qaeda operative."

"Where?" Gibbs demands of him.

"Tight here… in DC. What the hell happened up there?"

"He was going to jump," I answer him when Gibbs fails to.

"Why?"

"Working on it."

"We've got an Al-Qaeda operative on the loose. If you'd done your job and pulled Arnett off that ledge, my best man wouldn't be dead," Walsh informs us angrily.

"We tried and when HE was ready to get off the ledge back onto the roof, someone murdered him. That is not our fault. That is not on us. Do not BLAME us for something you don't have a fucking clue about," I snap at him while cutting him off.

…

"Unit's in lockdown. All work's been secured. The section restricted to quarters. National security's at risk, my people are sitting on their hands. How longs this going to take?" Walsh demands of us when we arrive at the Michaels' office to investigate. Gibbs, McGee and I are the only ones that came to the office.

"We're working as fast as we can," Gibbs informs him.

"A lot less time if you stopped giving us attitude and stonewalling us," I overlap Gibbs with an innocent smile at the end.

"When was the last time you saw Lieutenant Arnett?" McGee asks him when Walsh glares at me.

"Two days ago. He seemed fine. Called in sick. His desk," Walsh informs us while leading us over to Michael's cubical. He demands, "He tell you anything up there?"

"We need to know more about this current operation," I inform him while Gibbs looks at the office that looks like it's been cleaned before we arrived.

"Told you as much as I can," Walsh informs me.

"Stonewalling didn't work for the CIA and it isn't going to work for you. Besides every question you don't answer, our case take a day longer," I inform him calmly.

"Don't suppose I can copy the contents of his hard drive?" McGee asks but Walsh just shakes his head no making me scuff.

"You want answers," Gibbs reminds him.

"Apparently," I add making him walk over to the desk and open the top drawer.

"Personal effects. Best I can do," Walsh informs us making me scuff again. He steps out of the cubical, allowing McGee to walks past to bag them. Gibbs walks into the cubical and picks up a photo off of the desk of a blonde woman.

"This his wife?" Gibbs asks him making Walsh node yes. Gibbs demands, "You met her?"

"Married about a year," Walsh informs us while shaking his head no again.

"Separated last week," I inform him calmly.

"Didn't know."

"Any change in Michael's behaviour lately?" I demand of him.

"He was always quiet."

"Maybe more so recently," Gibbs prompts him.

"He did his job. Never shared anything personal," Walsh informs us while Gibbs begins to pace and McGee goes through the desk.

"Phenelzine. Strong antidepressant. Did you know he was taking medication?" McGee asks while holding up the bottle of pills and like normal Walsh just shakes his head no.

"that all we get?" Gibbs demands of him.

"I'll go through his files. See what I can give you," Walsh promise him but I don't think that's going to happen. We grab our gear and begin to leave but Walsh stops Gibbs by stepping between Gibbs and me. He demands, "Keep me in the loop, Special Agent Gibbs." Gibbs doesn't say anything but walks past him and opens the door for us to leave.

…

"I mean I've known her for a long time, you know," Tony comments as we walk into the squad room.

"Arnett's wife is here. I am having her brought over to the conference room," Ziva reports as I look at the guilty look on Tony's face. We all walk over to our own desk and sit down without saying anything to Ziva or Tony. McGee looks at the bottles of pills before imputing the doctor into his computer to located a lead, hopefully. Gibbs is looking through all the notes I have taken on this case in hopes of also finding something. This case is personal.

"Boss, I got an address for Dr Neil Flaming. Prescribed Arnett the medication. He's not military. Has a private practice in Georgetown," McGee reports.

"Guy gets free medical care from the Navy, goes to a shrink who probably charges three hundred and fifty dollars and hour?" Gibbs asks in surprise.

"Maybe he was afraid of loosing his job for need the help. Didn't want Walsh to know about it. Walsh doesn't seem like the kind to be understanding about personal problems," I state in thought about the possibility.

"I'll check him out," McGee says while standing up.

"With him, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders.

"With him, boss," Tony agrees while standing up from his spot beside Ziva's desk.

…

"Our marriage was doomed from the start. The navy took advantage of Michael's language skills. They assigned, reassigned him to dangerous posts in the middle east. The few times he was home, he was uptight. He wouldn't want to talk about what he did. I became more and more frustrated," Dana informs us in the conference room. She is sitting at the end of the table with Ziva to her right and I am sitting to her left. Gibbs is pacing around behind her but his head isn't really in this case at the moment, I doubt he is even hearing the wife talk.

"Did you discuss it with him?" Ziva asks her.

"We tried marriage counselling," Dana informs us and while shaking her head no. She continues to state, "It didn't help. Michael couldn't open up."

"Did you know he was seeing a psychiatrist?" Ziva asks her making her look at Ziva in surprise before hesitating in her answer.

"No. I uh… I wanted him to get help… I didn't think he would."

"It was your idea to separate?" Gibbs states his question.

"I thought it would force him to face our problems. It was a mistake."

"Where did you meet?" I ask her as I watch Gibbs walk around to the end of the table and lean against the drawers in the room while leaning forward and placing my arm onto the table, making this less of an integration when it looks like Dana is going to cry.

"The National Gallery. An exhibit of Mesopotamian art. I was… standing, admiring a sculpture, and Michael was behind me. He began explaining the piece to me. He brought it to life. He was the most intelligent man I'd ever met. He made me laugh… I haven't seen him laugh in a long time," Dana explains with a smile while thinking about their first meeting and it sounds sweet.

"You're not surprised he was suicidal," Gibbs states.

"What does surprise me is that he was murdered. Why, Agent Gibbs? Why?" Dana demands of him like he was the one to kill him but he wasn't.

…

"Special Agent Gibbs," Abby growls into Gibbs phone in the squad room tonight while wearing his glasses but she freezes while saying in her normal voice, "You're standing behind me, aren't you?"

"Yep," Gibbs answers her making me laugh at her misfortune. She slowly puts the phone back down as we walk around the border into Gibbs squad room out of the cubical behind his while Gibbs continues, "Feeling real secure about your job, are you, Abs?"

"Um, not so much anymore," Abby admits while trying to stand up out of Gibbs chair but he pushes her back down onto the chair before sitting on the edge of the desk himself and I lean against his shoulder laughing at the situation still.

"You up here cause you got something for me, Abs?" Gibbs asks her while leaning into her personal space but if it was anyone else, they wouldn't even have a person.

"Yep," Abby answers him without telling him what and still looking like a guilty child which makes me stop laughing and move from Gibbs side to pull her into a sideways hug so that Gibbs can still see her face.

"Ballistics on the bullet?" I ask her hopefully.

"It's a mangled, useless chuck of lead. Well, actually, only the core is lead because the jacket is ninety-five percent copper and five percent zinc, but you already knew that," Abby rambles out nervously under Gibbs stare.

"Arnett's computer?" Gibbs asks her hopefully next.

"Scrubbed clean like the day it was born in Taiwan," Abby informs him quickly. He nodes before reaching over and grabbing her hand and gently helping her out of his chair. Once she is standing he moves her from behind the desk and pats her back before sitting down himself. Abby reaches in front of Gibbs and picks up the evidence bag that holds the cell phone, while saying, "Lieutenant Arnett's cell phone. It was in his pocket when he fell, so it's as squished as he is, but I removed the CPU and I stripped away the peripheral…"

"Abby," Gibbs cuts of her rambling without looking away from the computer his is slowly typing at.

"You're not gonna like who he received his last call from, Gibbs," Abby admits.

"Who?" I ask her after a moment when Gibbs and her just stare at each other.

"Us," Abby informs us and after a moment she adds, "NCIS. Someone called Lieutenant Arnett from inside this building."

…

"Director Shepard," the NCIS agent who called Arnett greets Shepard in her assistance's office. She is a beautiful young black woman who is dressed professionally.

"I appreciate you getting here so fast," Shepard greets her while placing the files she is carrying down onto her assistance desk.

"No problem," she says but she looks sad.

"Is something wrong, Nikki?"

"May I be frank?"

"Of course," Shepard says to her while leading her into Shepard's office.

"I know I'm only a low-level intel analyst. And I am more than happy to do whatever the agency requires of me, but I resent having a rude message left on my phone by Special Agent Gibbs," Nikki informs her while closing the door by pulling her shirt down past her hand so that she doesn't have to touch anything. She walks over to the desk where Shepard is sitting behind while continuing, "With no explanation at all, in the most condescending and insulting manner, he demanded that I get in here immediately. He certainly lives up to his reputation."

"Special Agent Gibbs isn't known for his people skills," Shepard calmly informs her.

"I'm sorry, Director Shepard, I just… need to vent. What's this about?"

"You don't know?" Gibbs asks her spin to see us sitting in the corner of the room where there is no light.

"I have no idea," She admits as Gibbs stands p but I don't bother to move yet.

"What about the murder of Lieutenant Michael Arnett?" I ask her calmly.

"He's dead?"

"He was murdered on live TV. Everyone was watching," I inform her while finally getting up and walking closure to her.

"I just called him this morning," Mikki exclaims while looking at Shepard like she would protect one of her workers but that's not her MO.

"That's why you're here," Shepard informs him.

"Half of Washington watched him get shot on live Television. You work in this building and you had 'no idea'?" Gibbs demands of her while working himself up making me place my hand on his back and gently rub it to calmly him down.

"When did it happen?" Nikki demands of Gibbs.

"A little before one this afternoon," Shepard informs her.

"I was home… asleep. I've been working the middle east desk for the past couple days. Everyone I had to speak to is eight hours ahead of us. I was here all night," Nikki defends herself.

"Working on what?" I ask her but she doesn't answer me instead she looks at Shepard. "Work on what, Madam Director?" I hiss at her because we need to know and she is not telling us stuff again.

"Navy counterterrorism intel has suffered leaks over the last few months. Al-Qaeda has managed to get a step ahead of us."

"We suspect a mole," Nikki admits know that Shepard has half-read us in.

"Nikki has been analysing data trying to look for a common denominator. I had no idea it involved Lieutenant Arnett," Shepard informs us to.

"Of course you did. If it means doing your job, you don't know… because you see those folders in front of you, it's your job to know who is involved in each on. So that when they turn up dead, we don't have to start from scratch," I snap at her. knowing this could have helped us earlier but Shepard can't be trusted to do her job, like normal.

"What's his connection?" Gibbs asks her while grabbing my hand that I removed from his back.

"Well, Lieutenant Arnett had gone outside the wire, working contacts in Djibouti, gathering valuable intel, some of which had been compromised. I wanted to talk to him about who he shared the information with," Nikki informs us.

"Yeah, he cooperate?" I ask her.

"When I called him, he seemed preoccupied. He said he couldn't talk. He'd get back to me. Guess that's not going to happen," Nikki admits before releasing he's not going to get back to her.

"This is a priority," Shepard begins.

"Every case is a priority," I snap at her.

"Until we find out why he was killed, you are assigned to Special Agent Gibbs' team," Shepard continues like I didn't speak.

"Report to the squad room at seven-thirty," Gibbs orders her making her node before turning and leaving with Gibbs following her, watching her every move closely. She opens the door by pulling her shirt past her hand again.

…

"Guys, this is Nikki Jardine. She's an intel analyst who had contact with Arnett. She's going to be working with us," McGee reports the next morning as the Tony and Ziva enter the squad room. He is sitting at his desk on hold while Nikki is standing across from him. I am sitting at my desk where I wearing an Abercrombie & Fitch Kenzie skirt, Shoop neck boxy tee, Carvela Kurt Geiger Sammy leather boot, 2" zipper black leather cuff wristband D ring 80's gothic punk heavy metal death, silver chain leather gothic choker collar punk elegant gothic, the outfit Abby got me for my eighteenth birthday. Ugly Tony the second is sitting on my lap as I work at my computer, she has her ears dyed red and is wearing a dog shirt that says, 'Stardoggy. Hipidog coffee.'

"She is Shepard's new bitch… sorry bitch it seems you've been replaced," I inform Ziva calmly making Tony smile while putting his stuff down at his desk.

"Yes, I am still on hold," McGee says into his phone.

"Hi. I'm Ziva David . I've seen you around," Ziva greets her happily while walking over and holding out her hand for Nikki to shake.

"I'm sorry. I don't shake hands," Nikki informs her making Ziva pull her hand into a fist while pulling it back as Tony laughs while coming to a stop behind him.

"I guess a hug's out of the question. Anthony DiNozzo," Tony informs her while holding his hand out for her to fist bump it. She looks at the hand for a long moment before barely touching it with her own hand.

"Sex-machine, she couldn't even touch a door knob. What makes you think she'll ever touch you?" I ask him while looking at him like he had two heads and neither is smarter than his normal head that he uses.

"McGee?" Gibbs calls out while entering the squad room making Tony and Ziva quickly move back to their own desks.

"Boss, can't find a judge to sign the warrant. No one wants to violate the patient-client privilege," McGee reports as Gibbs walks over to his chair and sits down. Nikki walks over to stand beside

"Um. I know we started off on the wrong foot last night, and I just," Nikki attempts to apologies as Gibbs logs onto his computer.

"You got something?" Gibbs cuts her off.

"Lieutenant Arnett returned from the middle east two weeks ago. He passed through the NCIS field office in Djibouti. With your permission, I'd like to contact the special agent in charge there."

"Do it," Gibbs orders her without looking at her. she quickly begins to leave the squad room making Gibbs demand, "Where are you going, Jardine?"

"To my office to make the call," Nikki answers Gibbs but he points to the empty cubical beside McGee, she looks at the cubical before nodding and slowly walking over to it. I put my dog down and I begin digging throw the bottom drawer of my desk, it is still full of everything Kate used to keep in there, I just couldn't empty it.

"We have backgrounded Lieutenant Arnett's family," Ziva reports as Nikki sits at the desk and pulls out some antibacterial wipe.

"Arnett's grandparents lived the American dream, boss. Came to this country as teenagers. Opened a small appliance shop in the sixties. Which evolved into a chain of electronics stores," Tony adds while watching Nikki clean the phone loudly. Ziva stands up to see her while we all watch.

"Nineteen, to be exact. Grossing over two hundred and fifty million dollars last year," Ziva reports while we continue to watch Nikki.

"We're talking bug family money. If there's a prenup, the soon-to-be-ex-wife stands to lose a fortune. Think _'Black Widow,'_ Theresa Russell film of the same name."

"All right, Tony. Dana Arnett, travel agent, is a crack shot with a sniper rifle?" Ziva taunts him while leaning her hands onto the side of Gibbs desk as we stop watching Nikki know that she is dialling the number and I return to looking through the drawer.

"Could've hired a hit man," Tony defends himself as I pull out a bag of lollies to eat… that is one good thing about having Kate's desk, I hide food all though it and don't have to re-hide it in a new desk.

"Get her in here again," Gibbs orders him making Tony step forward and 'sneeze' onto Nikki making her freak out. It was only water out of the bottle he is drinking out of but she doesn't know that and I don't think that would matter to her.

"I'm sorry. I have allergies," Tony defends himself before walking off, leaving Nikki looking like she is going to cry. I get up and walk over to the poor girl, Tony didn't need to do that, she is scared enough.

"Hey, are you alright?" I ask her softly while kneeling down next to her without touching her at all. But when she doesn't answer me, I ask her, "Do you have a change of clothes here?"

"No," Nikki answers me.

"It's going to be okay… You look the same size as me… I have a spare set of clothes you can wear," I offer to her before continuing, "Come on." I get up and grab my back before walking off towards the back elevator without checking she is following me but I hear her footsteps a second later. I lead her into the back shower stall of the decontaminated shower. I give her the clothes out of my bag, which she hesitates on taking but the clean clothing is better then being covered in Tony's spit for the day. So she gets into the shower to get clean. The outfit is a pair of black bellbottom pants and a long sleeve red sweater.

…

"I spoke with Agent Wells in Djibouti," Nikki reports in the director's office as she sits at the desk with Shepard. Gibbs and I are standing at the door that Gibbs is holding the handle of and rocking it up and down so that it makes a noise. She looks at his hand before continuing, "She said lieutenant Arnett stopped by the NCIS field office a couple of weeks ago. He was upset. He was concerned that his key local witness was missing. They offered to help locate him, but Arnett was so protective of his source. He wouldn't reveal the contact's identity."

"That's all?" Gibbs asks while grabbing his phone that is beeping and handing it to me. I open the text message that he just received. I hand him the phone back and he walks over to the desk.

"Yes," Nikki answers him as he takes Shepard's glasses off the table and puts them on to read the text. He reads the text before throwing the glasses back onto the table.

"Pentagon just sent Arnett's files," Gibbs informs us while walking over to the door and opening it. As he walks out the door he grabs my hand to pull me along behind him but leaving Nikki with Shepard.

…

"Bos, I vetted Doctor Fleming," McGee reports as we walk back into the squad room to see McGee at his desk and Ugly Tony eating out of Tony's cap again. McGee types at his computer and pulls up the file on Doctor Fleming onto the plasma between his and Tony's desk. He puts up a photo of a young Fleming at a rally while standing behind a police car. He continues as we walk over to the desk, "Turns out he was a radical undergraduate at Berkeley in the early seventies. Arrested several times for civil disobedience. As recently as last week, spoke at a get-out-of-Gitmo rally in the mall."

"Well, bring him in. we don't need a subpoena to interview him," Gibbs orders him.

"Captain Walsh is online in MTAC," Shepard informs us while walking into the squad room. Gibbs nodes while picking up the file off of his desk and begins to walk over to Shepard with me following him.

"Arnett's files. Redacted to the point it's useless," Gibbs informs us while opening the file to see every word is blacked out. We walk towards MTAC only to see Nikki coming towards us carrying her computer.

"Special Agent Gibbs, I've got something, " Nikki informs Gibbs who walks paster her while wiggling his finger, telling her to follow him. She mumbles, "Yes, sir." We all walk into MTAC to see captain walks on the screen.

"Captain Walsh, sorry to keep you waiting," Shepard says as we walk into MTAC.

"My unit's still on lockdown. You were supposed to keep me in the loop, agent Gibbs," Walsh exclaims.

"Lieutenant Arnett's file," Gibbs begins while holding the file up for Walsh to see. He continues, "I could've got more reading the Washington post."

"Blame the director of national intelligence."

"And you forgot to mention Arnett was questioned about leaked intel," I state.

"Didn't think I needed to. Don't you people at NCIS talk to each other?"

"Captain Walsh, in order for this agency to complete a thorough investigation, we will need your full cooperation. You'll be briefed when we think it's appropriate," Shepard informs him when it becomes apparent he is just stonewalling us for no reason other than he can. The Tec hands Gibbs a note making him walk over to the Tec's computer.

"I have a meeting with the undersecretary in half an hour. What do I tell him?"

"Tell him that the director of national intelligence, and you personally, are obstructing our investigation on a murder case," I inform him before Gibbs orders the Tec to end the call but waving his hand in front of his throat. Everyone in the room looks at Gibbs for ending the call like that.

"Djibouti's coming online," Gibbs defends himself while walking back over to beside me. And continuing, "Satellite time's expensive."

"What do you have doe us, special agent Wells?" Shepard demands of the woman on the call.

"We've been working with Bahrain. I think we've come up with something. A tribal leader was beheaded for collaborating with an American agent. It's definitely the work of Al-Qaeda operatives. We have every reason to believe the victim was Lieutenant Arnett's missing contact," Wells informs us.

"When did it happen?" Gibbs asks her.

"A couple of days ago, not too much longer. We're just getting into it questioning villagers," Wells informs us.

"I want updates as you get them," Shepard orders her.

"Yes, ma'am," Wells answers her making Gibbs signal for this call to be ended too.

"What've you got, Nikki?" I ask her as we turn to face her.

"I did a matric. Focused on the four most recent leaks. Charted who generated the information, received it, or had access to it, directly or indirectly. The only person who had knowledge of all the leaked intel was lieutenant Arnett himself," Nikki informs us while moving over to besides Gibbs so that he can see her computer screen. She continues, "If the beheaded tribal leader was in fact his source and his identity has been leaked, then Arnett is the only one who would have known. I think lieutenant Arnett was the mole."

…

"Mid-Eastern ancestry. Arab-speaking. Naval academy graduate. Intelligence officer in the pentagon. He is the perfect deep cover mole. Sort of an Arab version of Kevin Costner in ' _no way out_ '. Arnett's juggling two lives. Things are closing in on him. He's stressed to the max. on antidepressants, a liability to his Al-Qaeda handlers. When he doesn't jump they terminate him before he can expose their cell," Nikki explains her theory back in the squad room. Michael's information is on the plasma above my desk so I am sitting on the edge of Gibbs desk with Ugly Tony on my lap. at the beginning she was in front of the plasma but as she spoke she walked back across to Ziva's desk.

"nah, I still like the… wife. Had him killed for the money. There's a prenup. He died before they get divorced, she gets the big check. If he died after, she gets zip," Tony informs us as Gibbs fills out files.

"Yeah… why would he try to comment suicide then?" I ask Tony.

"I'm still working on that part, Alice," Tony informs me as Abby and Ducky walk into the squad room.

"Hey, Abs, dad," I greet them with a smile.

"You're wearing it," Abby exclaims while looking at my outfit.

"Something different… wouldn't wear it every day," I inform her while pulling on the bottom of my very short skirt. I then add, "You here for a reason or to attempt to get fired again?"

"We know why he was suicidal," Abby informs us proudly making me smile at her making Gibbs look at her and Ducky.

"Abby found Timolol in Lieutenant Arnett's blood," Ducky informs us while walking over to where Gibbs is sitting behind his desk. He continues to inform us, "It's used to treat glaucoma."

"He didn't have glaucoma."

"So why'd he take it?" McGee asks her while sitting on the edge of his desk next to her.

"Well, that's the best part. He didn't know he was. Someone substituted timolol for his contact lens solution. His lenses were soaking in it all night."

"It's the equivalent of wearing nicotine patches on his eyes. The level of the drug was twenty times the recommended dosage," Ducky informs us.

"I still haven't heard why he was suicidal," Gibbs states while looking at them.

"Because the combination of the eye medication and the antidepressant he was taking has a serious side effect: severe clinical depression," Abby informs Gibbs what they found.

"Well, I think you're overlooking an obvious character," McGee informs us.

"Character?" Tony laughs at him while standing up. He continues, "This isn't one of your novels, Mr Gemcity."

"Doctor Fleming has anti-government leanings. He prescribed the antidepressant and would know the combined drugs side effects. If Arnett discussed classified information during their session, Fleming could have passed the intel on. There's your spy," McGee defends his theory while standing up, toe to toe with Tony.

"Oh, yes, probie, but the wife had access to the contact lenses," Tony reminds him while wiping McGee's spit out of his eye.

"That does no prove anything. McGee found a bottle of lens solution in Arnett's pentagon office desk," Ziva informs Tony while getting up form behind her desk and walking over to the boys.

"Y-Y-Your point?" Tony stutters out.

"Captain Walsh had access to his desk, and, as Arnett's CO, knowledge of his intel."

"That's the weakest point of all."

"All these make more sense than Arnett," Nikki overlaps Tony. Resulting in them, all, including Abby talking over each other and I can't make out what is being said anymore. Gibbs exchanges a look with Ducky before standing up and whistling loudly to shut them up.

"Hey," Gibbs yells once the whistle has mostly silenced them. They all turn to him making him exclaim, "Break up the dog pile. This is a murder investigation. And I am hearing a lot of theories here and not much else. Get on it!"

…

"So, I'm against the war and the patriot act. Doesn't make me un-American," Fleming states while looking at the photo of him at an anti-war rally. McGee opens the folder he is holding making Fleming demand, "What have you got there? Government keeping a file on me?"

"I'll ask the questions, Doctor Fleming," McGee snaps at Fleming as we watch him.

"I've had enough of this," Fleming states while getting up.

"Sit down!" McGee orders him while slamming his hands down onto the table.

"I see McGee's got your mad act down," Shepard comments as we watch McGee.

"Almost," Gibbs answers her with a half-smile from where he is standing beside me with his arm around my shoulder.

"I heard your agents are pitted against each other. Wasn't that Gibbs' rule number fifteen. 'always work as a team'?" Shepard asks him with a half-smile of her own making me want to clawer her eyes out.

"Not on this one," I answer her when Gibbs continues to watch McGee without answering her.

"No one could have saved him, Jethro. He was dead the moment he stepped out on that ledge."

"That what I tell his sister?" Gibbs asks her softly while tightening his arm around my body.

…

"Back off! All of you, okay? I am one person!" Abby yells at the team as I follow Gibbs into the lab late at night only to see everyone there.

"Easy, Abs," Gibbs says to her while walking over into her personal space.

"No! it's late. I am tired, I am overworked, and I am taken for granted!" Abby exclaims while turning back to her computer that is working as hard as she is. We all fall silent after her rant and the boys look guilty, Gibbs thinks for a moment before turning to leave but stops and turns to face her.

"Maybe you should accept that job offer," Gibbs informs her making me smirk at her until she pulls a hurt face making em step forward and wrap my arm around her shoulders. She looks at Gibbs in disbelief before turning and slapping the back of Tony's head making him grunt in pain.

"I can't believe you'd say that to me, Gibbs. How could you think that I could be leaving? 'Cause I got a little mad? So what? We're family. That's allowed. I get three or four job offers every year. I've never considered any of them," Abby informs Gibbs before turning back to the computer making me smirk at her, of course she does. She's just that good.

"Then why'd you have dinner with that head-hunter?" Tony asks her in confusion.

"Have you ever had the Beluga caviar at the Ritz-Carlton?" Abby answers him while turning to face us.

"Oh god yeah," Nikki exclaims making McGee give her a look.

"And besides, it was nice to feel wanted," Abby informs us.

"Abs, your always wanted, by everyone in NCIS and some in the FBI," I inform her with a smile because she has a good reason but I don't want her to feel like we don't want her, she is probably the most important person on Gibbs team… maybe in the whole of NCIS.

"Now, get out of here, all of you. I have work to do," Abby informs us while turning her back to us. Gibbs half smiles before turning to leave with the rest of us, and smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"What was that for?" Tony asks Gibbs in confusion.

"Spreading rumours," Gibbs informs him before he even finishes his question as he walks into the elevator that just opened without anyone calling for it.

"DiNozzo! Get back in here!" Abby yells from her lab making Tony pull a scared face.

"Anyone wanna come with me?" Tony asks us but in answer McGee pushes him out of the elevator and presses the button for the squad room.

…

"I am meeting Captain Walsh's former executive officer at the Naval Amphibious Base at little creek tomorrow. He is willing to talk to us, off the record, but not here," Ziva informs us back in the squad room while getting ready to leave for the night. We are all sitting at our desk but for Tony who is still talking to Abby.

"You losers might want to follow me. Boss, need you in MTAC. Clearly, you're not one of the losers," Tony informs us while walking through the squad room and I wait until he is walking past my desk to attempt to bite him making him add, "Alice, you're not one of the losers either, more like an extension of Gibbs' body. Anyway, my hunch paid off. Figured the 'black widow,' has a felony record. Abby just got a DNA match from Interpol." We all get up and follow him up to MTAC where the Tec has already put the call through for us.

"Her real name is Najida Mamud, an agent of the Syrian Mukhabarat. She's a gifted linguist, she was educated in England, and secretly trained in weaponry, martial arts and covert operations," a man on the plasma informs us while showing us photos of her American ID and her before she came to america.

"Ziva, she's you," Tony exclaims softly to the killer standing beside him.

"Najida Mamud was in an Al-Qaeda camp in Sudan until we lost track of her three years ago. We thought she was in Pakistan," the man admits with a little bit of shame.

"She was obviously smuggled into the US and then deep-backstopped with impeccable American ID," Tony comments.

"Homeland Security's worst fear," McGee comments as Gibbs walks over to look at a photo of her.

"And ours. Let me know if you apprehend her," the man informs us before ending the call.

"Lieutenant Arnett didn't casually meet his wife at a museum. She set him up, just like Kathleen Turner set up William hurt in _Body heat_ ," Tony informs us as I walk over to Gibbs and gently grab his hand without saying anything because I know the only way to make him feel better is to catch this son-of-a-bitch.

"Lieutenant Arnett wasn't the mole," Ziva comments.

"He was married to the mole," Gibbs states while leaving MTAC with his team follow him like the good little dogs they are.

"How did she know he was going to jump off a building?" Ziva asks us as we begin to descend the stairs.

"Didn't. she was drugging him, building a case for his depression," McGee reminds her.

"So when she killed him… overdoes, slit his wrist, whatever, it would appear to be suicide," Tony adds as we get to the bottom of the stairs.

"He must have realized he was the source of the leak that got his operative killed," Ziva releases.

"Reason enough to jump?" Nikki asks us.

"Guess when we got involved, she had no choice. Had to take him out. Boss, I'm gonna put out a BOLO, notify Homeland security," McGee informs us as we enter the squad room to and walk to our own desk to get to work.

"I will call the hotel, see if she's there," Ziva adds while they pick up their phones.

"I'm getting the car, boss," Tony adds.

"What can I do?" Nikki asks Gibbs while standing in front of my desk and Gibbs walks past her..

"Assignment's over," I inform her as Gibbs opens his notebook and writes something down before walking over to her.

"You can get me that phone number," Gibbs informs her while handing her a page he just ripped out. She hesitates for a moment before taking the paper off Gibbs hands with only two of her fingers because of the germs.

"Dana Arnett notified the front desk that she is checking out," Ziva informs us as we all leave the squad room with our gear to arrest this bitch.

…

"She left the lobby less then a minute ago," Ziva informs us as we all get out of the car at the hotel. Gibbs and Tony was in the front with the rest of us in the back. We are all wearing our NCIS jackets again.

"DiNozzo, McGee, start at the top, work your way down," Gibbs orders them while pointing behind him to drive his point home as we all drawl our weapons. Gibbs, Ziva and I run up the exit ramp. A white car begins to come down towards us.

"Federal agents," I yell while aiming my gun on the person only to see it's not Dana making me add while we flatten ourselves against the wall, "Keep moving." We hear tires screech above us making us run to the edge only to see Tony or McGee hanging over the edge making me grab Gibbs coat with one hand while holding my gun with the other.

"Boss," Tony calls out.

"Pull the fire alarm!" Gibbs orders Ziva as he run off in the other direction to the alarm.

"McGee, level seven," I call up to him before taking off further up the ramp, in the opposite direction to Gibbs. Ziva pulls the fire alarm making it sound and closure off all the exits so that she can't hide from us in a parking lot.

"Probie. This is not how I want it to end!" Tony calls out in fear of falling making my heart drop but I have bigger things to worry about right know.

"Hand on, Tony. I'm coming," McGee calls down to him. I continue to run up the ramp and see her a couple of turns above me but I know I won't be able to stop her but I can slow her down. I run up a few more turns before stepping behind a brick wall that will protect me, and I wait until she drives past and then I shoot her back tires, blowing the right hand side one. She continues down the ramp for almost three more turns before having to come to a stop in front of Gibbs' car that is blocking her. I watch with my gun aimed on her from my spot as she gets out of the car but can't move because Ziva is right there. I holster my gun while turning and running up the ramp for what feels like forever and gets to the level Tony is hanging over the edge, at the same time as McGee.

"It's about time!" Tony exclaims as we arrive and grab one of his arms each.

"Sorry, had a crazy woman on the loose," I informs him while we strain to pull up his heavy ass.

"Come on," Tony exclaims while helping to pull himself up and McGee gets a hold of the back of his jacket. We get him halfway up and I reach down and grab a hold of his belt to pull him the rest of the way over the wall and he falls onto his head as McGee and I sit down. Tony pats McGee's knee as we all pant for air and I hold my throbbing shoulder.

"Are you two alright?" I ask them.

"I love you McGee," Tony informs McGee before continuing, "I promise never to give you a hard time again."

"Yeah, right," McGee comments making Tony pat him on the chest this time as I attempt not to succumb to the pain of my shoulder… I really shouldn't have helped pull tony over the edge but I am not letting anyone die.

"Tony, if I ever wear a skirt to work again, shoot me please," I beg of him as I pant through the pain.

…

"Where's Gibbs?" Abby asks us as she walks into the squad room the later tonight.

"I don't know," McGee admits from where we are all standing around Ziva's desk.

"IS that what you get for turning down the job offer?" Ziva asks Abby while looking at the black roses she is carrying.

"No. for solving the case," Abby and I correct her together.

"HA. I believe those are for me, them, because I solved the case," Tony states.

"But Abby ran the photo-recognition that ID'd Lieutenant Arnett," McGee reminds Tony while walking closure to Abby.

"I risk my life handing off a wall," Tony adds.

"I got the lecture for pulling you back onto the right side of the wall… twice," I inform him because that is no reason to get flowers, that is a reason to get shoot.

"And she discovered the drug interaction that made Arnett suicidal," Ziva adds.

"I suggested we run the wife's DNA," Tony attempts to get the flowers again.

"Against a national database of felons. Dead end. Abby went the extra step of compared it to the Interpol database," McGee reminds him.

"I can't believe this."

"He still loves me," Abby says with a grin.

"Abs, even if you left and went to work for the FBI he would still love you," I inform her with a grin of my own.

"Give it up, Tony," McGee informs him while turning to walk back to his desk.

"She will always be the favorited, besides Alice, Tony," Ziva adds making me give Abby a look of pride that we can hold that title. Abby walks closure to Tony with a grin.

"I still love you," Abby informs him before handing him a black roses. She turns and orders us as she leaves, "Back to work."

…

"Abs, why am I getting dressed at your apartment?" I ask her with confusion about why I went home with her instead of with Gibbs.

"Because Gibbs asks you to," Abby reminds we with a grin.

"What is he planning?" I asks Abby with a suspicious look.

"What makes you think he is planning something?" Abby asks me while laying a dress out on her bed, coffin, for me to put on.

"Where you get that dress?" I ask her in confusion because it's not a dress I own. The dress is red lace with a sweetheart neckline and one strap over the right shoulder. There is a lining behind the lace until the top of the thigh area on the left hand side and then goes down on a angle and ends on the right side it finishes at the middle of the thigh. The lace continues to the ground, making it cover my legs but still able to see them. There is lace flowers all over the top and a couple of flowers on the lace bottom. It is a very pretty dress but not something I would buy for myself encase it is too revealing and it looks expensive. **(The dress is the photo for this book)**

"Gibbs asks me to make sure you wear it," Abby informs me while running her hand over it.

"He is defiantly planning something," I state then…


	10. Yes or No

_Previously:_

 _"_ _Abs, why am I getting dressed at your apartment?" I ask her with confusion about why I went home with her instead of with Gibbs._

 _"_ _Because Gibbs asks you to," Abby reminds we with a grin._

 _"_ _What is he planning?" I asks Abby with a suspicious look._

 _"_ _What makes you think he is planning something?" Abby asks me while laying a dress out on her bed, coffin, for me to put on._

 _"_ _Where you get that dress?" I ask her in confusion because it's not a dress I own. The dress is red lace with a sweetheart neckline and one strap over the right shoulder. There is a lining behind the lace until the top of the thigh area on the left hand side and then goes down on an angle and ends on the right side it finishes at the middle of the thigh. The lace continues to the ground, making it cover my legs but still able to see them. There is lace flowers all over the top and a couple of flowers on the lace bottom. It is a very pretty dress but not something I would buy for myself encase it is too revealing and it looks expensive._

 _"_ _Gibbs asks me to make sure you wear it," Abby informs me while running her hand over it._

 _"_ _He is defiantly planning something," I state then…_

Now:

"What do you think he is planning?" Abby asks me while pushing me into a chair.

"I don't know and I don't know if I want to know it," I inform her as she picks up my makeup and begins to foundation onto my face.

"Of course you want to know," Abby informs me with a little laughter.

"No, I don't," I lie to her with a grin as she continues to look through the makeup bag.

"Yes, you do," Abby corrects me with a grin while picking up my eyeshadow.

"No… if I wanted to know, I would have got him to tell me already," I promise her with a cheeky grin making her grin at me in return.

"Really?" Abby asks me with a grin.

"Really… he will tell me what I want, with a little work," I promise her.

"Well, I guess you can just put the dress on and find out without having to get rugburn," Abby informs me with a grin while putting on the eyeshadow onto my eyes.

"I guess," I mumble as she places the eyeshadow onto my eye and then puts it back into the bag of my makeup that I have collected over the time I have been dating Gibbs.

"You will," Abby promise me with a grin while grabbing some red lipstick and put it onto my lips.

"IF you say so… but if he doesn't tell me tonight, I am going to make him pay," I promise her as she turns my chair around and begin to do my hair for the night. She pulls my hair up into a half-up and half-down and she puts the hair tie into the hair loosely and then twists it around two times.

"I thought you didn't want to know," Abby comments while bushing the last of the nots out of my hair from putting the do in.

"I don't but I don't want him to keep secrets from me," I inform her as I stand up.

"I guess that makes sense," Abby informs me while I remove the bathrobe I am wearing, leaving me in a pair of matching underwear, it is a red silk with black flower with a black lace on the bottom corset and a black G-string, and she picks up the dress.

"Of course it makes sense. Everything I say makes sense," I inform her as I step into the dress as Abby holds it at my feet for me. Once I am in the dress, she carefully pulls it up over my body to it is place and I put my arm into the sleeve. Abby then walks behind me and zips it up for me.

"Wow," Abby moments as she walks around to see me in the dress for the first time.

"It's beautiful," I inform her while running my hand over the lace top of the dress while the bottom bit that is against my skin is silk.

"It is," Abby agrees with me while picking up the shoes which are black Nike Jordan nine inch high heels with red laces. I put them on and do up the laces, I love these shoes, I brought them as a joke when I lived with Kate and I always used to wear them when I went out with Kate, but I decided to wear them tonight because they are comfortable and sort-of goes with the dress that Gibbs brought me.

"What do you think?" I ask her as I stand up and give her a spin making the dress spin out slightly but not much because of the lace it is made of.

"Perfect," Abby answers me with a grin while leading me over to the mirror to have a look at what I look like.

"Wow… I look like an adult," I comment while looking at my body, if my hair wasn't red and I wasn't so short, I would almost be Kate's twin.

"You are an adult," Abby reminds me.

"I know, but I look like one for a change… I don't like it. It takes too much time," I inform her making her laugh at me.

"Yeah. You don't have the patience to do your makeup every day," Abby informs me in laughter.

 **(I personally really don't wear makeup because I don't have time, know how to do it and I am working as an electrician so I sweat a lot. But when I do wear it, which my real-life sister puts on, I do feel so beautiful and like and adult. I am curious about which of my readers do their makeup every day and if you don't… I know that everyone I have personally talked to at work that they do… sorry off topic of the story and I hope this hasn't destroyed you enjoyment of this chapter.)**

"It takes too long," I whine to her with a pout making her laugh at me as there is a knock at her door.

"Coming," Abby calls out while walking towards the door to open it.

"She ready?" I hear Gibbs says from the door making me blink in surprise at him arrive right as I am ready. I don't know who he is able to do that but something else clicks into my mind at that moment, he sounds nervous… really nervous, he is never nervous… sad? Yes. Angry? Hell yeah. Horny? All the time. Nervous? Not once.

"What do you think?" I ask him as I walk out of the bedroom to be able to see him. He is wearing a white t-shirt under his black polo and he is wearing his black and white jacket that I love so much. He is wearing black pants and looking very beautiful and sexy and I want to go home and put our clothing on the ground. Gibbs whistles at me without answering me making me blush while playing with the skirt of the dress.

"Beautiful," Gibbs answers me finally making me blush more and Abby smirk at us.

"D-d-don't look to bad yourself," I stutter out with a bit of nervousness, I don't know what he is planning and no matter what I say, I do want to know.

"Thanks," Gibbs says with a little smile of his own before asking me, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I answer him while grabbing my leather jacket to put on over the dress to help keep me warm.

"Come on," Gibbs says to me while holding out his arm for me to take which I do after I put on the coat.

"Thank you, Abs," I say to her with a grin only for her to take a photo of us making me blush more.

"Have fun kids. Don't do anything Tony won't," Abby informs us.

"What won't Tony do?" I ask her before walking off with Gibbs before she can answer me.

…

Gibbs takes me to the beach where we first met when I was a little child making me smile at the fuzzy memory. Gibbs gets out of the car and walks around to my side of the car and opens the door for me. He holds out his hand and I take it, and use it to get out of the car.

"Such a gentleman," I inform him with a smile before placing a kiss on his cheek in thanks, because I am wearing long lasting lipstick, it doesn't leave a make on his cheek.

"Only for you," Gibbs informs me with a grin while releasing my hand to place his hand on my lower back to lead me where he wants to go. He leads me onto the sand making my heels dig into it and I have trouble walking because of it making Gibbs laugh at me while I continue to attempt to walk but I can't do it. Gibbs laughs louder while picking my up bridle style.

"Jethro," I laugh at him while wrapping my arms around his shoulders happily.

"Alice," Gibbs copies while with a grin while tightening his hold on me, but I have no fear that he is going to drop me. He carries me around behind a little hill of rocks, I see that there is a picnic set up and Gibbs gently puts me onto the blanket that is already layed out. I release him as he sits beside me and opens the basket of food.

"This is beautiful," I comment while looking at everything Gibbs has done for me. There is the blanket we are sitting on and the food but there is also candles lit everywhere.

"I've seen better," Gibbs informs me making me look at him only to see that he is already looking at me.

"Wow, that line is worthy of Tony," I inform Gibbs with a small smile at his bad line but it feels nice to know he is willing to use bad lines.

"Oh, that hurts," Gibbs exclaims while placing a hand over his heart for a second before pulling out some spaghetti and handing it to me to eat.

"I still love you with your bad lines," I promise him while leaning to the side and place a kiss onto his cheek with a grin before sitting back and begin to eat my food.

"Better," Gibbs mumbles while pulling out some spaghetti for himself.

"What?" I ask him because that doesn't make sense.

"Better love me," Gibbs informs me while eating his food but he still looks so nervous. I smile while eating the food that Gibbs has cooked for this date, he must have been planning for this for a while. I quietly finish my dinner before placing it onto the ground beside me and meaning onto Gibbs side as he also puts his plate down on the table.

"What's wrong?" I ask him as he looks even more nervous now that the food is gone.

"Nothing," Gibbs lies to me while pulling out a piece of cake and handing it to me.

"Thanks," I say with a grin while taking the chocolate cake because I love chocolate of any type.

"Your welcome," Gibbs informs me while pulling out another cake and eating it himself. I quietly use the fork to break off a little bit of the cake and place it in my mouth only to moan because it takes so good. "Oi, I'm the only think that is allowed to make you make those sounds," Gibbs whispers into my ear making me blush.

"But it's so yummy," I exclaim making Gibbs smirk at me.

"Yeah, but that's not what you're eating," Gibbs informs me making me blush at him again and he sits back with a little chuckle.

"Jethro," I hiss while smacking his arm before turning my attention back to my cake. I am halfway done with my cake when I hear Gibbs swallow loudly for a moment.

"Alice, I need to talk to about something," Gibbs informs me making me look at him in fear.

"What's wrong, Jethro?" I ask him while turning to face him and pulling on my dress in fear… does he not want me anymore? Has he found someone better? Have I done something wrong? Am I not good enough for him? He hesitates for a long time that feels like years to me, what have I done? Is he going to end it? I ask him, "Have I done something wrong? Do you want to end it?"

"Alice," Gibbs cuts me off making me jump in surprise and fear… he didn't answer me.

"Jethro, what is it?" I ask him in fear because I haven't ever seen him nervous before and I don't want to lose him… I love him to much for that but I wouldn't make him stay if he wants to go.

"Alice, I… will… I'm not doing this right," Gibbs complains while rubbing his face in annoyance.

"Jethro, what's wrong? Is it something I did?" I ask him while fisting my hand into the lace of my skirt.

"No, of course not, baby. How could you think that?" Gibbs asks me while turning and placing his right hand on my face.

"What's wrong then?" I ask him in concern, I don't know what's happening.

"Nothing," Gibbs answers me while rubbing my face for a second before removing his hand.

"Jethro?" I ask him in fear.

"I have to say something and I need you to promise not to talk until I am done," Gibbs informs me.

"I promise," I say while gripping the lace tighter.

"Alice, I love you and don't every second guess that," Gibbs begins making me node at him. "I need you to understand that, and that I don't want you to every think I don't or that I could stop, okay? Now, what I am going to say, I need you not to take it personally, okay? I'm not saying this because of something you have done. I am just informing you of this before you get the wrong idea," Gibbs informs me making me blink in confusion, since when does Gibbs ramble. He asks me, "Do you understand that?"

"Yes," I mumble making him node to me.

"Alice, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Gibbs asks me while holding up a box with a ring in it making me blink in surprise. So he's not breaking up with me? The ring is gold with two hearts overleaping each other, the top of the hearts are covered in little diamonds. It is very pretty.

"What?" I ask him in confusion, he wants me to marry him.

"Will you marry me?"

"Why?" I ask him in confusion.

"Because we love each other."

"That's no reason to get married. That's a reason to date," I exclaims.

"Alice, if you don't want to, that's fine. You don't have to just not answer," Gibbs exclaims while sounding hurt and putting the ring away.

"Jethro, I don't believe in married because all marriage brings is lies and pain," I exclaims while honestly trying to work out what he is thinking. I look at his face and see the pain I am coursing making me add, "I love you until one of us die, but I don't understand why you want to bring the government or other people into our relationship."

"Because I want to be able to call you MY wife. And tell people you are mine when they attempt to flirt with you," Gibbs explains to me.

"But I am already yours," I exclaim.

"I know. Forget I asked," Gibbs exclaims.

"Jethro," I exclaim while grabbing his arm when he goes to get up. I continue, "I love you but I have never understood the purpose of marriage… it doesn't stop people from cheating. It doesn't stop people from leaving. It doesn't stop people from stopping loving each other. It doesn't stop people from hurting each other… so what is the purpose."

"I don't know," Gibbs answers me while playing with the ring box.

"Me neither," I mumble while trying to work it out. After a moment of thought, I decide to inform Gibbs, "Jethro, I would love to marry you." Gibbs look at me in surprise but I hold up my finger to silence him while I continue, "But if we break up or something happens to us, it is because we got married and I get to say, 'I told you so.'"

"Alice, you don't have to marry me, because you think it's the right thing to do or because it is the next step in our relationship," Gibbs informs me.

"Jethro, I don't have a problem with marrying you, what I have a problem with is how many marriages end in divorce, and I don't want to tempt fate," I explain to him while reaching out and taking one of his hands. I continue, "We are going strong and I don't want it to end just because we got married. There is a curse on being married and I don't want to lose you."

"Your being paranoid," Gibbs informs me with a half-smile.

"I know, but what if we don't make it because we got married? We are going so good at the moment," I explain my thought process to him because I know he is still hurting and that wasn't my intention.

"Getting married wouldn't change that, but it will make it so that I can tell all men, that you are my wife and they can get lost before they get shoot," Gibbs informs me making me grin at him because it's kind of cute, how he thinks he needs to marry me to do that.

"I'll marry you, but I'm just saying that if it goes wrong, I am telling you, 'I told you so.'"

"Okay," Gibbs answers me with a grin while pulling me into a hug and placing a kiss on my head.

"I love you, Jethro," I mumble into his chest while gripping his shirt.

"I love you, too, baby… and getting married isn't going to stop me from loving you," Gibbs promise me.

"It wouldn't stop you getting aroused for me or having sex with me, right?" I ask him in fear because I enjoy my sex life too much for that.

"Nah," Gibbs promise me with a grin at what I am worried about. He continues, "I am beginning to think you're only with me for my penis.'

"No, of course not. I am with you for your coffee too," I inform him with a little grin making him laugh at me before opening the ring box again and gently putting it onto my finger.

"Thought so," Gibbs jokes.

"It's beautiful," I comment while looking at the ring before turning my head and placing a kiss on Gibbs lips. Gibbs wraps his hand around my neck and hold me against his lips so that he can deepen the kiss but I don't open my mouth for him making him growl at me before sucking my lip into his mouth and gently bite onto it making me open my mouth with a moan, allowing Gibbs to deepening the kiss like he wanted to. I run my hand around Gibbs shoulder and play with the bottom of his hair while moving so that I am straddling his hips while kneeling on the lace of my dress. Gibbs runs both hands around my back and one down onto my ass, using it to lead me into settling over his lap.

"I still think your prettier," Gibbs informs me while breaking the kiss and then begin to kiss down my neck making me moan in pleasure.

"Jethro," I gasp out in pleasure while gripping his hair to hold him in place.

"You like that?" Gibbs asks me with a grin while kissing my neck and then gently bites down on my pulse before licking it and kissing it.

"You know I do," I gasp out before pulling on his hair until he removes his face from my neck and I return my lips to his. I gently release his lip while running my tongue into his mouth only for him to take control of the kiss again.

"We should stop," Gibbs mumbles against my lips while running his left had down to grab my right thigh in his hand.

"Mm-hmm," I hum against him lips while continuing to kiss him and roll my hips against his. I break the kiss with him only to kiss down his neck while feeling his cock grow hard beneath me. I roll my hips against his while sucking a mark into his neck so that everyone knows he is mine.

"We should stop before we get arrested for public exposure," Gibbs informs me while moving his hand up my leg and holding my hips in place.

"We wouldn't live that down," I mumble while sucking on his neck still.

"Exactly," Gibbs agrees with me while lending back away from me making em pout at him because I didn't want to stop.

"But, Jethro," I whine making him smirk at me while running his hand through my hair.

"Alice, I am not having another indecent exposure on my record," Gibbs informs me making me blink at him.

"Another? Like you already have one?" I ask him in surprise.

"In my defence, it's wasn't my fault," Gibbs defends himself making me laugh at him while snuggling into his shoulder to hide my laughter.

"Right," I mumble into his neck making him chuckle above me before placing a kiss on the top of my head.

"IT wasn't."

"Whose was it then? Mike?"

"No comment," Gibbs answers me but I continue to laugh at the thought of Mike being the reason Gibbs got an indecent exposure on his record.

"I'll buy you a coffee," I offer in hopes of getting more information on his past.

"No," Gibbs answers me making me pout at him before exclaiming.

"Fine… I'll look it up at work on Monday."

"It was expunged from my record," Gibbs informs me making me pout again. Why? I want to know and I am never going to get to know.

"That's not fair. How am I supposed to find out what it was for and with who?" I fake demand of him.

"You're not supposed to," Gibbs informs me while running his fingers up my side.

"But I want to know," I complain making Gibbs smirk at me before running his fingers over my sides, before tickling me between two of my ribs making me laugh while attempting to get away from him but he uses his second hand to hold me against him.

"You don't get to know," Gibbs informs me while continuing to tickle me making me laugh as I attempt to get out of his hold.


	11. Your what?

**_I apologies that this chapter is so small or short but I can't concentrate on this story because my mother was just admitted to hospital for at least a month… but I hope you enjoy what I did write… thank you for reading and reviewing my story so far._**

"Hey, Kate. You'll never guess what just happen," I say to my sister as I sit down on the rooftop, while looking at the spot where she fell in a day I can't forget evening knowing I would love to forget every second. I am wearing a pair of jeans and Gibbs NIS sweatshirt and my new ring that Gibbs gave me just last night. I half smile as I continue to talk to my sister, "Jethro proposed to me… and I said yes… and that is something I would never have said that in my life." I look at the ring while turning it around on my finger.

I stop talking and listen to the city below me that don't even know why this roof top is important or what could have happen that day. Ari could have killed everyone on the planet if he wanted to and I do believe he would have if he didn't die.

While sitting on the ground I begin to think about what would be different if Kate was alive or if Ari was never born or if Kate had never taken me in. I wonder what would have happen if I never went to work with Kate, would I have met Gibbs or would I never have had this brilliant man and would he be Mann's? or would we have met in a different way? At a coffee shop? Wood shop? Kate's dead? When he arrested Mr Todd? Would he have arrested Mr Todd? Would Ari have shoot Gibbs? Would he have killed Kate still? Would Gibbs hunted Ari so much? Would he even know Ari? Without releasing it, I sit on the roof until the sun begins to set behind the building and I am stilling thinking about all the what ifs, and about life in general.

I hear someone walking up the stairs onto the roof making me stand up and place my hand on the but of my gun when I see that it is dark and this isn't a good part of town for someone to be alone at night. I lower my hand when I see Ducky walk out of the stairway.

"Dad," I mumble while looking at me before blinking in surprise, why is he here? Did something happen to Gibbs?

"Alice, what are you doing up here?" Ducky asks me while looking around the roof like this is the first time he has seen it but in know it's not the first time he has been on this very roof.

"Talking to Kate," I explain to him while pointing to the spot where Kate once bleed out making Ducky look at the spot but there is no longer any sign of someone dying on this rooftop.

"Alice, Kate's not here," Ducky gently reminds me while walking over to me.

"I know but sometimes I think she can hear me when I am here," I explain to him while playing with the bottom of my shirt like a child that is in trouble with their parent.

"What are you talking about?" Ducky asks me after a moment of silence as he just watches me.

"Life," I answer him simple as he walks closure to me.

"What about life?" Ducky asks me.

"What would have or could have changed if just one think changed. If the football never died and Kate never joined NCIS. If Ari never broke into NCIS, or never killed Kate. Or any other possibility," I answer him honestly.

"There is no point thinking about what ifs because we can't change what has happened," Ducky informs me as I sit back down on the ground and he sits beside me.

"I know but I was just wondering if Kate would still be here… would I have met Jethro? Or found out that you where my father," I explain while playing with my ring again because I can't help it. I know we can't change the past but I am just thinking too much.

"What brought this up?" Ducky asks me.

"Jethro proposed to me," I inform Ducky before showing him the ring making him grab my hand and look at the ring.

"Yes, he asked me for permission," Ducky informs me with a grin.

"Dad, you know and you never told me," I exclaim while putting my hand over my heart in fake hurt.

"Jethro asked me to keep it silent."

"When did he ask you? How long had he been playing this?" I ask him because that was too well done. The beach, the food, Ducky's permission, Abby's help and the new dress.

"He asked me when Stephine found that body," Ducky informs he making me laugh because that was months ago. Ducky continues, "I was beginning to think that he wasn't going to ask you. It never took him this long with his exs."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was going to five him to Monday before I gave him a lecture about not doing it yet," Ducky informs me with a grin making me smirk.

"He probably knew that too," I informs him with a grin. With a bigger grin I continue, "I'm not going to tell anyone."

"Your what?" Ducky asks me in confusion.

"I am going to let them work it out themselves. Just like when we got together," I explain to him with a grin making Ducky chuckle at me.

"You like teasing them," Ducky laughs at me.

"I like knowing something about Jethro that the team doesn't. Besides it's being engaged or doing something stupid to confuse them," I explain with a grin.

"Like what?" Ducky asks me with a grin.

"Get pregnant or quit NCIS and move to Mexico," I inform him with a grin like that is a normal thing to tell your father.

"Okay. Just don't do something stupid," Ducky informs me with a grin making me laugh at him.

"I can do that… now I just have to stop Jethro from screaming it from the roof and shooting everyone that dares flirt with me," I exclaim with a fake sad face making Ducky laugh at me.

"This reminds me of a couple in…"


	12. Prank Wars

**_I am so sorry that it took me this long to update. I have written this story five different times but I didn't like the pranks…_**

 ** _Thank you for all the comments_**

 ** _Hope you enjoy this story_**

 ** _I hope to post more often then this one and I am so sorry about the delay… I feel so bad but I wouldn't put up a chapter that I thought was shit._**

I walk into the lab to see Abby bouncing around her lab while typing at her computer in the main area. I walk over to her without her hearing me and then I stand right behind her.

"Boo," I whisper making her jump in fear before spinning around to face me as I continue to smirk at her.

"Don't do that… I don't even like when Gibbs does that," Abby exclaims making me laugh as I walk over to lean against the desk. Abby continue as she turns back to her computer, "How did you get Gibbs to teach you that?"

"First lesson, walk into a room with lots of death music playing," I inform her making her look at me with a huge grin.

"Did anyone notice anything new?"

"Tony thinks I'm pregnant because I wouldn't drink that coffee."

"Wait? Are you?" Abby exclaims while looking at me and then my stomach.

"No," I answer her like she is an idiot while pulling a disgusted face. I don't have a problem with children but that isn't it and Abby would probably now before me.

"Are you sure? You never turn down coffee," Abby exclaims while looking at me in confusion and continuing to look between me and my stomach.

"I put dye and chilli in Tony's coffee. I am not going to drink it," I explain to her with a grin making her laugh at me. I continue to ask her, "Can you access the cameras in the squad room?" I ask her hopefully.

"Of course," Abby answers me while pulling the cameras up on her computer and then onto the plasma. She walks into her office and grabs something before walking out of the room making me shrug it off while setting up two chairs. I sit down in the right one and prop my feet up on the table below the plasma screen. After a few minutes I hear Abby re-enter the lab and sit beside me while offering me some popcorn making me smirk at her.

"This is going to be good," I comment as Tony takes the coffee off of my desk. He walks back to his desk and sits down to 'do work' while placing the cup on his desk. I continue to watch the live footage while eating the popcorn.

"What did you do to the coffee?" Abby asks me as we watch Tony throw paper at McGee when he is not looking.

"I may have added blue dye to the coffee," I inform her making her look at me.

"Why are we watching this then? You wouldn't be able to see that over the video," Abby exclaims but I smirk at her.

"If I was in the squad room, he won't drink my coffee," I explain to her.

"Right," Abby mumbles as Tony takes a big gulp of the coffee only for him to immediately spit it back out, all over Gibbs as he walks into the squad room making me burst out laughing.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs snaps while looking at his red shirt that is covered in Tony's spit and coffee, Tony is waving at his tongue making me laugh even harder with Abby.

"W…w…what… what… did.. you… put…in…the…coffee?" Abby gasp out while holding her stomach but I am laughing to hard to answer her, that was too good… but Gibbs is going to be in a bad mood for the rest of the days.

"Sorry boss," Tony gasp out while throwing out the coffee making me continue to laugh at the outcome of the prank.

"Piping hot chilli," I finally answer her as I hand her the empty bottle of the chilli to look at as Gibbs glares at Gibbs while walking over to the filing cabinet and grab out a black shirt.

"How much did you put in?" Abby asks me as she turns the video off.

"All of it," I answer her with a grin.

"It says one drop?" Abby shows me.

"Because, he shouldn't touch my coffee," I answer her as I turn to face her while asking something, "hat were you doing when I came in?"

"Pricing tickets for brain matter," Abby answers me.

"Never heard of them… I'm in," I inform her as I get up and leave the room…

…

I walk into he squad room to see everyone working at their desk, I am the last one to arrive at work today because I took my grandmother to her doctor's appointment so that Ducky could attend a court appearance. I am wearing a white shirt and black jeans with my leather jacket over the top, with my horse belt. I walk over to my desk where I put my backpack down behind my desk before login into my computer.

"Morning," I greet everyone.

"Morning," Ziva answers me back.

"Good morning, Alice," McGee greets me.

"Yeah. What's good about it?" I ask him as I pull my chair out and sit down on it only for the entire chair to collapse beneath me, making me land on the ground with a gasp of surprise and pain.

"Alice," Gibbs calls out while looking at me as I lay on the ground for a moment.

"Ouch," I complain while grabbing my desk and attempting to pull myself up. I stand up while rubbing my ass that is stinging from landing on the ground with chair parts under it.

"Are you alight?" Gibbs asks me while looking over the top of his desk but I know if we were at home or even alone, he would be personally checking me over for so much as a bruise.

"No… my ass hurts," I complain as I walk over to his desk with a pout making him give me a look as I hear a half chuckle making me glare at Tony who is trying to hide his grin in a coffee cup. I demand of him angrily, "Do you find something funny, sex machine?"

"Nothing," Tony answers me innocently as I sit down on the ledge behind Gibbs desk.

"It's on, Anthony," I hiss at Tony as I glare at him.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Tony says in fake innocents making me glare harder at him.

"You will live to regret this," I promise him.

"Okay, everyone back to work," Gibbs orders us while giving me a look for beginning a prank war with Tony, one that we haven't had in three years and I plan to win this one too. Without anyone's help this time. I walk over to my desk and attempt to work out how Tony made my chair fall apart when I sat on it, only to see that all the screws are missing out of the seat.

"Where are they?" I demand of Tony who smirks at me without answering me making me walk over to him and hiss, "Give me back the screws to my chair or I will remove your way to screw."

"You wouldn't," Tony exclaims while covering his junk.

"You want to find out?" I ask him making him quickly hand me back the missing screws.

…

I sneak into the squad room late at night, and over to Tony's desk where I move everything off the top of the desk. I reach into my pocket to grab out what I brought for this plan.

"What are you doing?" I hear a voice behind me making em jump before turning to face the voice only to see that Gibbs is leaning on Ziva's desk.

"Jethro, what are you doing here?" I ask him while looking around the squad room guiltily.

"I felt you leaving the bed… I followed you. What are you doing?" Gibbs informs me while giving me that look that means no one can lie to him.

"Um… getting Tony back," I answer him hesitantly.

"And you need to come to work at midnight to do that why?"

"Um."

"You normally pull your pranks before everyone gets in," Gibbs reminds me while waiting for me to answer him.

"Well, um."

"Alice," Gibbs states.

"I was just," I mumble before pulling out a bottle of superglue.

"Really? You're going to glue everything down?" Gibbs asks me.

"No?" I ask him.

"You're lucky I love you," Gibbs informs me while taking his coat off before grabbing the glue out of my hand.

"You're going to help me?" I ask Gibbs in surprise.

"You help me with my hobbies," Gibbs reminds me making me smile as I grab a second bottle of glue. I pick up Tony's computer monitor, and Gibbs puts some glue onto the bottom before I glue it back down on the table. Next I glue down his other monitor as Gibbs glues the phone to the table and itself. I then glue down the keyboard while Gibbs glues down his mickey-mouse stapler. The mouse is the next this and Gibbs works on the coffee cups. We work in silence as we glue all the big things down and then I glue down the files and the solvent for the glue. The finishing touches is that I glue the drawers shut and his chair to the floor.

"Thanks for the help," I say to Gibbs with a happy grin.

"Let's go home," Gibbs informs me while throwing the glue in a random bin on the way to the elevator.

…

I am working on my computer while waiting for Tony to get in for the day but hew is late like normal, everyone else is in the office working but for Gibbs who has walked off to do god knows what. Tony finally arrives and he looks miserable.

"Morning," I greet him without looking up from my computer.

"Morning," Ziva greets him but he doesn't answers us. He storms over to his desk while throwing his coat over his chair.

"What's wrong?" McGee asks Tony.

"Nothing," Tony snaps at McGee before attempting to pick up his coffee cup but it wouldn't move for the desk making him blink in confusion.

"You're late, DiNozzo," Gibbs informs him as he walks into the office and sits at his desk.

"Sorry, car trouble," Tony informs Gibbs as he attempts to move the mouse but it also doesn't move making me smirk at him.

"Really?" I ask him as I continue to pretend to work but I can't help him watch as he struggles to remove the glue. His next step is to open the drawer to put is gun away but it also doesn't move.

"Alice, what the hell did you do to my desk?" Tony demands of me while placing his foot on his desk as he throws his weight into pulling the drawer open but it still fails. He pulls harder but the handle lets go and he falls onto the ground making me laugh at him.

"Nothing," I lie as he stands back up and sees the solvent which he grabs but again it is glued to the desk making me laugh at him.

"Alice," Tony whines while pulling on the bottle.

"When does yanking on it, every work?" I asks Tony.

"Last night," Tony answers me as he continues to pull on the bottle.

"TDI," I exclaim while turning back to my computer with a disgusted look. I mumble but Tony hears me too, "I hope you at least showered after, before you came to work."

"I already showered," Tony informs me while attempting to lift anything but it's glued down.

"Gross," I exclaim.

"A little help, please," Tony begs of McGee making him grab his solvent out of his desk and throw it at Tony before returning to his work.

…

I walk into the squad room while carrying a cup of coffee for Gibbs and myself. I am wearing a white shirt with black pants. I place the coffee down on Gibbs desk while noting that Tony's not here at the moment but I don't think too much about it. I sit down at my desk while putting my coffee down. I gasp in surprise as I am dosed in ice cold water making me gasp in surprise. My shirt quickly turns see-through but I don't notice because I can't catch my breath and I continue to gasp for air from the sudden cold.

"Alice are you alright?" McGee asks me while looking up from his computer as I clutch at my chest and throat because it feels like my chest is closing up.

"I can't breathe," I gasp out while trying to force myself to get air in.

"Alice, I'm so… sooo sorry," Tony exclaims while stepping around the divider he dropped the water over and into my face.

"Alice, what happened?" Gibbs demands while walking into the squad room to see me hunched over while gasping for breath. I can't answers him as I continue to gasp for air while holding my chest, as he rushes over to me and knee down in front of me as he places his hands on my shoulder and attempting to get me to look at him properly. "Where's you inhaler?" Gibbs demands of my while holding my shoulder. I gasp out while pointing to my bag vaguely but Gibbs understands me. Gibbs reaches over and pulls the bag to him before tipping it out on the ground next to him. My share clothing, tampons, hairbrush, hair ties, gloves, purse, chips, lollies and a thousand different things fall out of the backpack next to Gibbs. Gibbs moves everything around until he finds the inhaler with the other gear onto of it. He quickly picks the inhaler up and place it to my lips, where I clutch at it and force my body to breathe out before I breath in while pushing the top of the inhaler, forcing the medicine into my lungs and then I repeat it again to get a second hit of the medicine. I continue to gasp for air but the medicine helps to open up my lungs for me to breath easier.

"Who is going to tell me what the hell you where thinking?" Gibbs demands of Tony while glaring at him as he stands up while continuing to rub my back.

"I didn't think," Tony begins to defend himself.

"That's right. You didn't think," Gibbs yells at him while rubbing my back as I slowly get my breath back.

"Jethro, it's fine," I gasp out while attempting to calm him down, Tony didn't know that would set of my asthma, he was just pranking me because I pranked him. I pat Gibbs arm while forcing myself to reach down and grab my change of clothes.

"It's not fine," Gibbs informs me while glaring at Tony for his mistake.

"Jethro, please. He didn't know," I beg of Gibbs as Tony steps away from Gibbs before harrying to his desk to work in the hopes of not getting killed by his angrily boss.

"He should have," Gibbs snaps.

"Well, he didn't.. can't change that but he does know now," I inform him as I slowly stand up while holding my change of clothing.

"Alice," Gibbs begins but I just pull on his hand before walking off towards the ladies room to change my clothing. I walk into the ladies room but the door doesn't shut behind me because Gibbs followed me into the ladies room.

"This is the ladies room," I inform Gibbs while walking into the first stall to change without anyone walking in on me.

"I know," Gibbs informs me as I see his feet come to stand in front of the stall I am in as I kick my shoes off.

"I know for a fact that you aren't a woman," I inform him as I remove my wet shirt and drop it onto the ground.

"Alice, you could have died," Gibbs informs me while placing his hands on the top of the door for the stall I am in.

"Jethro," I begin while feeling my bra but it is wet too so I take it off and drop it onto the ground with my shirt.

"If I didn't arrive when I did, and didn't get your inhaler, you could have died," Gibbs cuts me off.

"Jethro, I know but someone would have found it," I inform Gibbs as I put on my, Gibbs, blue polo on before pulling my hair out from under the shirt.

"You don't know that. They froze," Gibbs snaps while tightening his hold on the door making me hum while pulling my pants off.

"I know but I also trust them with my life every day," I remind him while removing my undergarments.

"I know Alice… but you should have your inhaler on you at all times so that this doesn't happen," Gibbs lectures me as I put my black jeans on.

"I don't want to accidently loss it when working," I explain to him as I do my pants up.

"I know but I don't want to loss you," Gibbs responds making me freeze while reaching for my wet clothing but instead I open the door and see Gibbs.

"You're not going to loss me… not ever," I promise him while stepping closure to him and pull him into a tight hug, letting him know that I am not going anywhere.

"I could… not knowing where your inhaler is," Gibbs mumbles while holding me tightly.

"I'll try to carry it more… but I am afraid I will drop it and then something while happen and I won't have it on me or know where it is," I explain my thought process to him making him hum at me.

"We'll work something out… even if everyone has to carry one for you," Gibbs informs me making me node into his chest. I step back from him before picking up my wet clothing and shoes.

"Ready to go?" I ask Gibbs making him node so I lead him out of the ladies room and back to the squad room where I put my clothing back into my bag and grab out a dry pair of socks to put my shoes back on. I look at my desk too see a chocolate cupcake on the middle of my desk making me smile before looking at Tony in thanks… I don't blame him, I know he didn't do it on purpose and I know that.

…

I sit down on my chair after getting us some lunch and I pull my burger out of the bag as Tony walk over to me to get his food.

"Thanks, Alice," Tony says to me while picking up my burger and taking a big bite out of my burger before putting it back down and taking his before I can grab it. I look at my food in disgust because I don't want to catch whatever STD Tony has at the moment. I watch as Tony takes a big bite out of his burger only to spit it straight out into the bin making me laugh at him.

"Something wrong Tony?" I ask him innocently.

"What did you do to my burger?" Tony demands of me while dropping the burger onto his desk.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lie to Tony as he lifts the top of the burger to see the meat.

"What the hell is that?" Tony demands of me while pointing to something on the burger.

"What are you talking about?" I ask Tony innocently.

"Did you put spicy source my burger?"

"No… I paid the burger shop to do it," I inform him as I eat chips.

"Alice, what am I supposed to eat?" Tony demands of me.

"Nothing, you need to loss a little bit of weight anyway," I inform him calmly with a cheeky smirk.

…

"Thanks Tony," I say to Tony as he hands me a cupcake and coffee for lunch.

"No problem," Tony says while handing out the rest of the coffee and food. I take a big bite of the cupcake, only to moan in pleasure at the taste of the chocolate, I feel a set of eyes on me but I am not letting Gibbs glare stop me from enjoying my cupcake.

"Only I should be able to make you moan like that," Gibbs whispers into my ear while grabbing my shoulders. I shake my head no while eating more of my cupcake as Gibbs grabs my coffee.

"Um, boss. That is Alice coffee, yours is on your desk," Tony calls to Gibbs before he can drink my coffee. Gibbs doesn't respond to Tony while taking a sip of my coffee only to immediately spit the coffee into my bin.

"What the hell is that?" Gibbs demands of Tony while dropping the coffee back onto my desk making me pull the lid off of the coffee but it looks like normal.

"Um," Tony mumbles before rambling an answer but we can't hear him at my desk.

"What?" Gibbs yells at him while glaring at him angrily.

"I got her, um… hot milo," Tony mumbles making me blink at him as Gibbs continues to glare at him and walk over to his desk to get his own coffee. That will, should, probable teach him not to take MY drinks… but I bet he will do it again.

"You got me hot milo?" I ask Tony with a small smirk.

"Yes," Tony answers me, making me smirk at him as I take a big sip of the milo.

"I love hot milo… I haven't had it in years," I exclaims before adding, "Thanks Tony."

"You're not meant to like it," Tony complains because his prank has backfired but I just shrug at him.


	13. Chimera

**_Hi, sorry about the delays in this story, my mum was in hospital and I didn't have time to write._**

 ** _I have a warning for anyone in hospital or going into hospital, when my mum was in hospital they were giving her, her 'daily' meds, but she went down to the point that they had to feed her and help her use the toilet. It turns out that they where giving her a pill three times a day, that she normally takes once a month._**

 ** _The point of that story is that if you are going into hospital, make sure that someone knows what you normal take when so that they can help you if this happens to you._**

 ** _Thank you for reading my story and this little ramble that was on my mind… if this helps even one person I will be happy._**

Tony pulls the paper end of another straw and places the straw into his mouth before blowing the rest of the paper at Ziva who is doing paperwork at her desk in the squad room. I am wearing a red singlet with a Gibbs white button up shirt on top but I haven't done the buttons up, leaving it open so that my singlet is visible, I have the singlet tucked into my bell-bottom boots with my horse belt on and NCIS standard boots, I am also wearing my engagement ring that Gibbs gave me, and the team hasn't even noticed yet. My hair is tied up in a tight bun at the top of my head, my jacket is thrown over the back of my chair as I work on the paperwork we are all meant to be doing but like normal Tony is screwing off. Tony looks at Ziva as he puts the end of the paper into his mouth and makes a spit ball before blowing it at her through the straw making her get up angrily.

"Don't you have paperwork, DiNozzo?" Ziva demands of him while walking over to the filing cabinet between Tony and McGee's desk with the file she was just working on.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Tony asks her while putting more paper into his mouth before continuing, "I take the paper… and I make it work." He then spits it at her again making her gasp in disgust and anger. She glares at him while he wipes beside his head to indicate that she has it in her hair but she walks back to her desk as Abby excitedly walks into the squad room.

"Yay… tonight's the night," Abby exclaims happily.

"What night?" McGee asks her innocently.

"Brain matter," Abby answers him while walking over to Ziva.

"Brain matter?" Ziva asks her.

"Yeah, my friend's band. Remember?" Abby asks them while losing some of her happiness that they might have forgotten what she has been going on about for a month, if not longer… since before Gibbs proposed and she wanted to join the band but unfortunately she works too much to make the practices… and she can't play an instrument to save her life. And her singing is worse.

"Brain matter," Tony says slowly.

"Yeah, you guys all promised you'd go with me," Abby reminds them while turning to face the boys.

"All of us?" McGee asks her as I get up and begin to walk over towards her.

"All of you," Abby agrees with him.

"Even me?"

"Even you," Abby answers him while putting a ticket on his desk.

"And you," She says to Ziva while placing a ticket onto her desk to. She then walks over to McGee and places a ticket down while saying, "Any you."

"Thanks Abs," I say with a grin while she hands over the ticket to me.

"I don't think I can make it tonight. I've got to… catch up on paperwork," Ziva lies.

"And I've got a very important thing, and that other thing," Tony lies making Abby look like she is going to cry that everyone is baling on her like a cheap date and not her family… which is something I am not going to let happen. Not to MY Abby, I will not let her get hurt like I was.

"And I… I got," McGee begins to lie but I calmly pull out my knife while walking behind him and press it into his shoulder. I know you can work without one arm while it heals, I've done it twice now.

"You know, it hurts a lot when something pieces your shoulder and you have to wait for medical attention," I whisper in McGee's ear making him understand that I am not joking or faking it, I will stab him.

"Some people wear these spiky things just for show," Abby informs McGee while rubbing her bracelet before thrusting it into his face while finishing, "I don't."

"I've got nothing better to do then-then to see," McGee stutters out while taking one of the three tickets left in her hand in hopes that Gibbs while come to but I have already told her that he wants to not work on that boat.

"A dead body, McGee?" Gibbs asks him as he walks into the squad room and over to his desk making me pout. He is wearing a white t-shirt under his dark blown polo and over the top he is wearing a brown suit jacket.

"You read my mind boss," McGee exclaims as Abby holds out the ticket for Gibbs and I walk around from behind McGee.

"It's a quick read," Tony informs him.

"Pack up. Full kit," Gibbs orders us while throwing pills out McGee.

"Motion sickness meds?" McGee reads in confusion.

"Chopper's waiting at N.A.S Anacostia," Gibbs informs him while typing at his computer.

"I'm fine on a chopper, boss," McGee informs Gibbs while throwing the pills back.

"Chopper takes us to the ship, McGee. USNS Chimera. Get briefed at Anacostia," Gibbs informs us as Tony and Ziva get their gear.

"You know, Brain Matter's playing a really late set," Abby informs us making me feel back, she really wanted to see this as a family.

"That's odd, there's… no Chimera on the register. Any reason why that would be," McGee informs us. Gibbs gives him a look making him exclaim, "We'll get briefed at Anacostia." Gibbs stands up and puts his pen in his pocket while glaring at McGee making him exclaim, "Okay, I'll get my gear."

"I'll get Duck. Pack a toothbrush. We're going to be there a while," Gibbs informs us while attempting to leave but I step in front of him while stopping him.

"Jethro, can't we go after Abby's concert?" I ask him softly so that no one else hears me. I attempt to bribe him, "I'll buy you a coffee?"

"No," Gibbs answers me making me node while looking at the sad scientist.

"It's just, she's been planning this since, I don't even know when," I explain to him.

"I know… if it was up to me I would, but I have my orders," Gibbs informs me while looking almost sorry but not really changing his work face like normal.

"What about if I promise not to be mean to Shepard?"

"The orders don't come from her."

"What if I give you a blowjob?"

"Alice," Gibbs hisses at me but I give him an innocent look making him exclaim, "I can't change it. We have to be on this flight."

"What if you guys go and I catch a later flight?"

"There is no later flight?"

"What if I stay and help Abby?"

"Nope, you have to come and that is an order. Shepard is already suspicious that you don't do the job you are paid to do because you're my girl, I don't need to prove her right and give her an excuse to fire you."

"But Abby is going to be so sad that we all bailed on her."

"There's nothing I can do… and I am not leaving you at home on your own," Gibbs informs me while placing a hand on my shoulder to make me understand his side.

"I know, I just don't like disappointing people," I mumble.

"I know."

"We'll have to make this up to her… and I am not going to be the only one this time… make Tony, bitch and McGee help. Not bail like their trying for tonight," I inform him before walking over to my desk and getting my gear too. He nodes before leaving the room to get Ducky.

"Well, look on the bright side, probie. Ixnay on the AinMatterBray," Tony informs McGee while leaving his desk and walking over to a sad Abby between McGee and Tony's desk. He looks at her while lying as he hands his ticket back, "Really wish I could go, sorry."

"Thanks anyway," Ziva adds while walking over to her and also handing her ticket back as Tony walks off.

"Take a… brain check?" McGee jokes making Abby snatch the ticket back. He adds before walking off, "Sorry."

"Sorry, Abs… but work comes before fun," I apologies to her while handing back my ticket. I continue, "When you go, don't forget to get lots of photos and videos for me." I give her a half hug before walking over to my desk and picking up my bag and then I walk over to Gibbs' desk to pick up his bag. I follow the team over to the elevator without saying anything, and we step into the elevator in complete silence. I hope this case is over soon, so that I can take Abby somewhere to make her happy again. A sad Abby is a broken law of physics or something.

…

"We received word of the death this morning," Commander Skinner informs us as we walk towards the plane hanger to go to the boat.

"Yeah, they say what killed the guy?" Gibbs asks him as we walk into the hanger. We are all wearing out NCIS windbreakers now and Gibbs is carrying is backpack. The rest of the team is already in the hanger while Gibbs and I left to talk to this Skinner.

"Isn't that your Job, Agent Gibbs? Skinner Wilkins will have you out to the Chimera by nightfall."

"Chimera's not listed in the navy fleet," I comment as I place my bag down and begin to put on the white vest they make us wear to fly.

"The Chimera's a highly sophisticated, top-secret research vessel," Skinner informs me.

"Researching what?" McGee asks him as Gibbs unzips his windbreaker.

"That's need-to-know. And you don't," he informs McGee.

"That's the 'top secret' part, McGee," Ducky informs him making me smirk.

"Go in, get the body, come back out," Skinner orders us while walking around.

"We've got a death to investigate," Gibbs reminds him.

"Take witness statements, do what you need to do. Just don't ask anything beyond your pay level," Skinner informs us smartly.

"We'll do our jobs, Skinner… if you have a problem with that, you shouldn't have let someone die on a secret ship," I inform him making Ducky and Gibbs grin at me.

"NCIS was called out because no other federal investigative agency has clearance to get on the Chimera. That said, even you guys don't have clearance to know what's on it," Skinner informs us making Gibbs look at him in without any of the amusement he had a moment ago.

"I get it, boss," Tony informs Gibbs before continuing in a bad accent, "It's a black ship."

"Black sheep?" Ziva asks him in confusion.

"No, they don't exist," Tony explains to her.

"I've seen black sheep."

"No, I said 'black ship,' not sheep," Tony corrects her.

"Clearly the government is still intent of pulling the black wool over the eyes of the American people," I inform her while giving Skinner a look. I pull on the white best before doing it up, making us look like a group of dorks with matching outfits, gay.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Tony agrees with me as Skinner looks madder and madder. McGee begins to ready the camera for the crime scene, if Skinner hasn't already had it covered up.

"No photos," Skinner orders McGee while ignoring Tony and me.

"It's standard procedure," McGee informs Skinner in confusion.

"There's nothing standard about the chimera. I don't want anyone documenting what's on that ship," Skinner informs us making us all look at him annoyance, that gets old fast.

"Bring the camera, McGee," Gibbs orders him making me smirk at Skinner , his power at lying has nothing to do with NCIS and we're not afraid of him or the government… sometimes we even help the government, not often but sometimes.

"I suggest you keep your inquiry focused on that body."

"I suggest that you get your head out of," I begin but Gibbs covers my mouth making the rest of my sentence muffled but the point is still made.

…

"We still can't raise any of the crew on the radio, sir," one of the men on the plane informs Gibbs as we hover over the ship, getting ready to jump off.

"Alert Commander Skinner," Gibbs orders him.

"Will do," the man calls back before Gibs jumps out, closely followed by me, then Tony, Ducky, Ziva and finally McGee. We quickly walk over to the stairs where we walk down, only to see there is no one waiting for us.

"Where's the welcoming committee?" Tony asks us as we remove our helmets we have to wear when flying.

"The desk lights are on," Ziva comments.

"Nobody's home," Gibs calls out.

"This si most unusual, Jethro," Ducky comments while we all walk in a little group and look around in confusion, what are we supposed to do? We don't know where the body is or where he died. Ducky is the only one still wearing the helmet.

"It is creepy," Ziva comments as I step closure to Gibbs, where is everyone? I was sure we would be under armed guard for our stay.

"It's a ghost ship," Tony comments.

"Agent Gibbs, we have reserve fuel. We need to know if you're staying, sir," the man at the helicopter door informs Gibbs over the radio.

"boss, I've got to tell you… I don't have a real good feeling about this," McGee informs us as Gibbs pulls his radio out of his back pocket.

"We're staying," Gibbs says into the radio.

…

We split into two groups and beginning to search for someone or the body. Tony, Ziva and McGee are together, searching the lower levels, while Gibbs, Ducky and me are together searching the bridge.

"I am beginning to wonder whether they dropped us on the right ship," Ducky informs us as we enter the empty bridge.

"Right ship," Gibbs comments while looking at a piece of paper on the desk with the ship name.

"Wrong night," I finish while following them out the other side of the room, back onto the desk.

"Do you think they all just went out for an evening swim?" Ducky asks us as I walk next to Gibbs, holding his hand and looking around the empty ship.

"Did you notice something missing, Duck?" Gibbs asks him

"People."

"Lifeboats," I correct him while looking around. I continue, "This isn't the titanic, there has to be enough lifeboats for the people aboard the ship. This one has none that we can see."

"Yeah, I didn't notice any on the starboard side either," Ducky comments while looking around for them.

"Ship was abandoned," Gibbs comments while giving my hand a gently squeeze.

"In a hurry, it would seem," Ducky adds.

"To much of a hurry to send a Mayday? Even the Titanic could send a Mayday and they sunk," I state because this doesn't make any sense.

"no, no, Jethro, Alice. No questions beyond your pay level," Ducky remind us making Gibbs turn and grin at him while he smiles back.

"But that's every question I ever asked," I fake whine making the men grin at me before hearing a man groan through the doorway we are about to walk past. Gibbs drops my hand while running through the door and I follow him with Ducky following me.

"Five minutes. You owe me ten bucks," Tony says to Ziva as we enter the hall.

"Where's McGee?" Gibbs demands of Tony.

"Calling earl. Shooting groceries. Making street pizza. Technicolor yawn," Tony informs Gibbs while pointing to the door in front of him that says

'3-5830

HEAD'

Gibbs goes to open the door but McGee does from the inside making Gibbs step away from him. McGee points down the hall while informing Gibbs, "I found something."

"Lost something, too," Tony teases him making Ducky grin at them as we all begin to follow him. We follow him down to door '3-5731' which McGee opens to show a lab. Gibbs walks in first, followed by me then Tony. There is computers and lots of stuff, Abby would love it and we would never get her back.

"I guess you can't judge a black ship by its wool," Tony jokes.

"What are they researching, dad?" I ask him because he would be the only one to understand this stuff.

"Something to do with rats, if I were to guess from these empty cages," Ducky informs us while standing over an empty cage.

"Skinner seemed pretty paranoid," McGee comments.

"Not too paranoid as not to send us to an empty ship," I comment while looking around without touching anything, I don't really want to die today.

"Guessing the mission wasn't purely humanitarian," McGee continues while giving me a look for that comment.

"I doubt it's even human. Thermosalinographs, fluorometer, carbon analyser," Ducky comments while walking over to the machines and naming them for us. He turns to Gibbs while continuing, "Whatever it is, its not visible to the naked eye." We all stand around thinking about what Ducky just said before hearing something like footsteps above us making me grab the back of Gibbs jacket while looking up, that can't be good.

"What was that?" Ziva asks us.

"Could be the metal of the ship contracting in the cool of the evening," McGee answers her but Gibbs gives him a look like he's stupid for saying that making him add, "Or not."

"Sounded as if it was coming from the cargo hold above us," Tony comments.

"Duck, you're with us," Gibbs orders Ducky while turning to leave. He then adds, "Check out that cargo hold."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Tony complains as we leave the room.

…

There is talking out in the hallway as Gibbs, Ducky and I look around the room we're in, we are all wearing gloves. Gibbs signals for us to be silent as we walks over to the door making me smirk, this is going to be good. Gibbs suddenly pulls the door open to revel Ziva, McGee and Tony who all jump.

"Boo," Gibbs says to them making me laugh at them but I don't blame them for being jumpy. But if Gibbs is on a scary ship, he is going to scare you, it's in his blood. He walks back into the room while waving at them and ordering them, "Get in here."

"Well, whatever's on this boat must be pretty damn scary if it got them to ditch this delicious-looking," Tony begins to joke while looking at a pile of green things on the plates. He hesitates before asking McGee, "What is this stuff?"

"Don't ask me. That's not a request, it's a command," McGee informs him as he walks away from the maybe food.

"Ohh, the plot sickens," Tony jokes while looking at a some of the food that has bloody vomit in it.

"This is our crime scene," Ducky informs us.

"Yeah, if there was a crime," I state while standing behind Gibbs who is leaning over the blood with Ducky.

"Well, you see these little flecks of brown in the blood?" Ducky asks us while shining his torch into the bloody food on the ground. Gibbs also shines his torch at it while Ducky continues to inform us, "Usually a sign of alcoholism but you can get it from severe gastrointestinal distress." McGee takes a photo of the blood stain and then off Gibbs while looking like he is going to throw up too. He takes a couple more photos of Gibbs instead of the crime scene before falling back against the wall making Tony grab his arm while I reach out to grab him too.

"Steady, probie," Tony says to him.

"Tell that to my stomach," McGee responds while breathing deeply to get rid of the nausea.

"Steady, probie's stomach," Tony responds while leading down to talk to the stomach.

"I would not stand there if I was you," Ziva says to Tony.

"That's a good point. You don't want to compromise the crime scene," Tony agrees with her.

"Gibbs," Ziva calls him over before pointing at the floor making him shine his torch onto the ground.

"Partial footprints," Gibbs comments.

"In blood. They lead out of here," Ziva adds while showing him more prints. I throw a look at McGee before following them through the kitchen into the walk in pantry. Ziva adds, "In here." Gibbs walks past her as we group up, on the ground there is frozen food that has melted. Gibbs opens the freezer door, only for a body to fall out onto the ground.

"You were right, Ziva. Someone is on board with us," Ducky jokes about what they were talking about before Gibbs opened the door and scared them.

"Not him. There's something alive. I can feel it," Ziva informs us as Ducky removes his back of his back and walks around her to kneel next to the victim.

"A lion-headed dragon goat?" Tony teases her.

"Maybe," Ziva answers him honestly making me blink because I didn't think Ziva would believe in that kind of stuff. Ducky and Gibbs unzips the bag that the dead body is in, showing off a frozen man with blood out both of his nostrils.

"Well, someone tossed a month's supply of creamed corn to make room for him," Tony observations.

"Please don't say that again," McGee begs of him while looking at the body.

"'Tossed'?" Tony asks him in confusion.

"No. 'creamed corn.'"

"There's significant petechial haemorrhaging in the eyes. These little pinpoints of blood. It's a sign of asphyxia," Ducky informs us while looking over the body and Gibbs pulls at the victim's ID, his name is Satoshi Takada. Ducky continues, "Well, we won't know for sure until we conduct some tests."

"McGee, get me a satellite link," Gibbs orders him while looking up from the ID.

…

"I am dealing with my boat phobia, Tony's dealing with his rat phobia, and Ziva's dealing with her ghost phobia," McGee informs Abby over the satellite call.

"So what's Gibbs and Alice dealing with?" Abby asks McGee from her lab.

"Them," Gibbs answers her as he pushes McGee out of his way.

"Abs, we need to talk to someone who is incompetent at their job… where's the director? Jethro wants you to patch us through to her," I inform Abby with a grin making Gibbs give me a look but not correcting me.

"No need, I'm here. What's the status?"

"Abs, patch us through to the director's empty office. It would be more competent anyway," I state making Shepard glare at me while Gibbs smacks me on the ass making me pout at him.

"Well, the crew has disappeared," Gibbs begins.

"Except for one," I add.

"Did he tell you where they are?" Shepard demands of us.

"No. we don't talk his language," I inform her.

"Ziva should be able to."

"Since when does Ziva talk death?" I ask Shepard making her glare at me while Abby smirks at my mind games I am playing with the director.

"Have you ID'd him?" Shepard demands of use.

"Yeah, hang on," Gibbs says while leaning further onto the table while reaching back into his pocket where he grabs his notebook. He pulls it out before reading out, "Doctor Satoshi Takada."

"That is spelt, S-A-T-O-S-G-I space T-A-K-A-D-A," I inform Abby where she types it into the computer to look into his background.

"What do you got on him, Abs?" Gibbs asks her while placing his hand on my back.

"Doctor Satoshi Takada. Marine biologist. Lieutenant Commander for the Navy since 1997. PhD in biology from LSU," Abby informs us what she found.

"Make sure that Skinner knows he's got twenty men stranded in lifeboats," Gibbs orders Shepard.

"I'll get right on it. Does Ducky have a cause of death?" Shepard demands of us.

"We're still doing test. Don't know what killed him yet," I inform her.

"Yes, we do," Ducky corrects me making us all turn to face him where he is standing in the doorway. He continues while stepping into the room, "My initial diagnosis of asphyxia was incorrect, I'm afraid. It looks as if Takada died of viral haemorrhagic fever… to which, by now, we have all been exposed."

"Can't leave the ship," Gibbs informs us.

"Well, that's not a problem, Jethro. If my diagnosis is correct… we'll all be dead by morning," Ducky informs us as I hyperventilate.

"NO," I yell at them before continuing, "No, no, no, no, no. Not again. Jethro, please… not again, please."

"Alice, Alice," Gibbs exclaims while pulling me into a hug against his chest.

"Jethro, please," I beg of him as I cry again his chest. I continue to beg him, "Please, not again… we shouldn't have to do it again... please. I can't go through that again… please."

…

Shepard's pov

.

"STRATCOM has received no signal from any lifeboats," Skinner informs me in MTAC where I called him on the main screen.

"A crew of twenty men doesn't just disappear into thin air," I inform him while thinking about Jethro being exposed to this… he could die and I never told him that I love him and that I am sorry for what I did in Paris.

"Trust me, we'll find those men. We're dispatching our rescue-and-recovery ops, and getting a relief crew out to the chimera ASAP," Skinner informs me.

"I need you to tell me what kind of research the chimera was involved in," I order Skinner.

"Seep-sea marine-life exploration. I'm afraid I can't say anything more than that. It's classified."

"I have top secret clearance, commander."

"The mission is above top secret, director."

"My medical examiner believes that Doctor Takada died from a deadly virus he may have contracted from the 'mundane stuff' he was studying."

"Then he must be mistaken in his preliminary diagnosis."

"Something on that ship killed him."

"We have no reason to believe that Doctor Takada's research had anything to do with his death."

"Commander, if you insist on stonewalling me, I can take this to a higher command level.'

"I'm not stonewalling, director. I'm telling you the truth."

"You are not telling me a damn thing. You do not run black ops to carry out mundane research. The lives of my agents are being threatened, and I need to know what is threatening them," I demands of him while placing my hands on my hips. This has gone on long enough.

…

Alice's pov.

.

"Primitive conditions, Duck," Gibbs comments while playing with a battery operated saw that Ducky used in the autopsy.

"Primitive?" Ducky asks him with a chuckle before continuing to ramble, "You remember that tiny thatched cottage I used as an examination room in Namibia? Yes, of course then I was working on Pygmies."

"Do you know what killed him yet?" I ask him softly while gripping the back of Gibbs NCIS windbreaker jacket. One of my biggest fears is catching another deadly disease, and I might have just done it again at work.

"Well, if Doctor Takada was a bit too fond of his scotch, what I'm seeing here is oesophageal varices, and this tear caused blood to enter his oesophagus, causing him to vomit blood. Or, doctor Takada could have had a severe gastrointestinal infection, that produced a Mallory-Weiss tear," Ducky informs us while pointing to a tear in the victim's throat as Tony plays around with the lab gear making one of them beep at him. Gibbs turns as looks at him making Tony lip, sorry as Ducky continues, "In which case, the vomiting would have come first. Neither diagnosis is inconsistent with haemorrhagic fever.'

"And if we were exposed?" Gibbs asks him.

"Well, I'm… hampered from prognosticating further until Doctor DiNozzo gives me a proper blood analysis," Ducky informs him as Tony breaks something behind us.

"Abby, where's the gas chromate-thinga?" Tony finally asks Abby how is on all the computer screens and I bet that was Tony's doing too. I walk away from Gibbs and over to Tony to watch him doing science and see how this is done.

It'[s the, uh, boxy-looking thing with the, um, circular door-like thing on the front," Abby attempts to explain to Tony.

"Oh, I got it," Tony says in surprise.

"Okay, good. Now, put the sample in the circular rack-like thing at the top," Abby orders Tony making him place the sample in like he was told.

"Got it," Tony informs Abby while holding his hands up.

"Okay, press the blue start button. It's… it's blue-ish and square-ish," Abby informs Tony making him look confused at her directions. She continues, "It's on the tower on the top, Tony. The tower-like thing."

"Got it," Tony informs her while pressing the button he needs.

"While we're waiting die the analysis, let's get the blood count. So, place a small amount of blood on your slide. It's amazing what you can learn from blood," Abby rambles as Tony watches the sample get tested that he just started. He picks up the blood, a dropper and a slide and drops two drops of blood onto it as she continues to ramble, "Even before it's analysed. I mean, the colour, the texture, the smell. Okay, um, now take out the dropper of Methylene blue. It's blue-ish and it's dropper-like." Tony looks over everything on the table.

"Got it," Tony informs her as he picks up the bottle that looks like her description.

"Okay, now place two drops of the Methylene blue on your slide," Abby orders Tony making him lift the slide up and drop two drops onto it where Abby can see him working.

"We're good," Tony informs Abby.

"Of course, blood that's passed through someone's GI tract has a particular smell," Abby informs us making Tony sniff the blood like a weird-o making me give him a look of disbelief while attempting to fight the urge to sniff the blood to find out the scent Abby is talking about. She continues to inform us, "Bit since this guy may have died from a highly contagious virus, whatever you do, do not inhale it."

"We're not good, here," I inform Abby while pulling on my hair that has fallen out of my bun.

"Hey, you okay, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks him softly while turning to face us.

"Not for long," Tony answers him honestly.

"Where's my blood analysis, DiNozzo?" Ducky demands of Tony while walking around the body and closure to Tony.

"I'm working on it, Ducky," Tony reminds him while placing the slide into a microscope and looking down it as he mumbles, "Might be the last think I do."

"Let's hope not," Ducky informs him while reaching us and asking Tony while moving him out of the way, "May I?" Ducky removes his glasses to hand off one ear before looking down the microscope while informing us, "There's definitely an increased white blood count, with an absolute increase in lymphocytes having an atypical appearance."

"That would be consistent with an acute viral infection," Abby informs us making me pull a face, that is not want I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that is was nothing and I'm not going to die again.

"I have located three rodent bites on Takada's body. Perhaps he contracted the virus from a diseased rat," Ducky offers us while putting his glasses back on.

"That would be bad," Tony and I comment together.

"Maybe the top-secret whatever-it-was that Takada is studying is what killed him."

"In which case it would be airborne," Ducky comments making me step back from them… I have to stop standing near Tony, he always get me infected with deadly things… and I don't want to die, who would look after my dog? Or Gibbs? Because nothing like a little deadly infection would or could be able to kill Gibbs…

"That would be really, really bad," Tony comments as I grab Gibbs hand in fear… not again, I can't go through this again. Please…

"Boss, I've got a feed from MTAC with director Shepard and commander Skinner. They want you and ducky patched in right away," McGee informs us as he enters the room. Gibbs begins to leave the room while pulling my but my hand and uses his left hand to signal for Ducky to follow us out of the room. We walk into the room from before to talk to these to lying assholes.

…

"I'm flying a crew out to take control of the ship," Skinner informs us. Gibbs is leaning on the table looking at the small computer screen while Ducking is standing behind him to the right and I am standing on his left, slightly leaning onto him but it's not overly visible to Shepard and Skinner.

"The risk is too great," Ducky informs him while cleaning his glasses and he continues, "Director, you cannot allow anyone on this ship."

"I can put anyone I want to on that ship," Skinner exclaims while making a big man of himself.

"Well, then I have no choice but to quarantine the Chimera," Ducky informs him.

"On whose authority?"

"Ours. Dr Mallard is a medical examiner, Agent Gibbs and Todds are federal officers," Shepard steps in from her spot in MTAC while defending us for a change.

"That's my ship!" Skinner exclaims angrily.

"Not anymore," Gibbs informs him calmly.

"What kind of game you think you're playing, Gibbs?"

"Any word from the missing crew? Or do you just not care about them because what you put on this ship to kill us is more important to you?" I demand of him calmly like my heart isn't beating out of my chest.

"We have every possible resource looking for those men," Skinner snaps at me while ignoring my second question but I don't really care about that, I just asked to get under his skin.

"Look, given what we know, this high precedence, those men may week have been exposed to the virus, too," Ducky informs Skinner as Gibbs stands up and walks away, and Ducky takes his place.

"They may also need to be quarantined," Shepard informs him.

"You don't need to explain to me the dangers involved here," Skinner snaps at her.

"It might have helped if you had explained them to us," Gibbs informs Skinner while leaning onto the back of Ducky to look into the computer camera so they can see him.

"If that is all, Director, I'd like to go find out what this virus is before it kills me," Ducky informs Shepard as Gibbs walks off again when Skinner fails to answer him like normal.

"And quite possible, everyone else on this shop, too… and anyone who comes in contacted with anyone on or from this ship," I add before walking off with Ducky.

.

Shepard's pov

.

"Commander, I think it's time you tell me what I need to know about your ship," I order Skinner when Gibbs and his men have left the room.

"I cannot divulge any more about the chimera's mission than I already have," Skinner attempts to lie to me.

"Seeing as ow my agents now have control over your ship, I am going to instruct them to investigate any and all aspects of the chimera's operation that will help them determine what they are up against," I threaten him but I have a feeling they already are… or at least Alice is because then thinks rules don't apply to her for some reason. I continue, "Nothing will be off limits."

"You can't do that," Skinner whines.

"You can't stop me," I promise him.

"This is a classified mission."

"Then read me into it."

"even if I wanted to read you into the chimera's mission, I can't do that over an MTAC feed. The file has to be read to you in person."

"If you think I'm going to stand idly by while my agents' lives are in danger, you are sadly mistaken," I snap at Skinner while praying that Gibbs isn't infected… we can replace the others but I can't replace Gibbs, not to me and I am not letting him go this time… I will win him back of that slut her calls a girlfriend. I continue to inform Skinner, "IU will be waiting for you and your file, commander."

"Now you," Skinner begins but I cut the feed before he can finish his threat or what every he was going to say.

…

Alice pov

.

"We've been through almost every room on this ship," Ziva informs us as we look at a map of the ship.

"'Almost' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades," Gibbs informs her from where he is standing behind me, reading over my shoulder. There is a sound above us of someone or something walking making us all look up in surprise.

"Could… be a rate," McGee offers to us.

"Shepard's not on this ship," I inform McGee because she is the only rat I know that would be able to make that loud of footsteps.

"Have to be an awfully big one," Ziva overlaps me.

"OR a ghost," Tony teases Ziva.

"Are you done?" Gibbs asks his children who are teasing each other.

"Done searching the ship?" Tony asks Gibbs hopefully. Gibbs steps back while giving him a look like he is stupid making Tony add, "But we could always search it again."

"I could stay here with Ducky," McGee offers making Gibbs turn and give him a disappointed look making him add, "Well, so he's not left alone."

"I'm not alone. I've got Takada to keep me company," Ducky informs us as he walks into the room.

"Dad," I call to him while holding up a radio to keep in contact with each other.

"Got it," Ducky says to me making me node before placing it onto the table and leaving the room with he team but not before hearing Ducky ask, "So, Takada, as one doctor to another, what is this horrid virus which caused your demise?" We walk out into the hallway to search the ship again.

"Anyone else feeling itchy?" Tony asks us as I follow closely to Gibbs because he is the lest likely to get infected. Tony is looking at his arm as he continues, "Maybe that's a bug bite."

"Or a rate bite," McGee offers to him.

"No, no, no, look at that spot," Tony exclaims while showing us the 'bug-bite.'

"It's a freckle," Ziva informs Tony as we walk down the stares into another part of the ship.

"It's not a freckle."

"Freckle."

"Never had a freckle there."

"You've always had that freckle."

"Ah, how would you know whether I had a freckle or didn't have a freckle? And by the way, I never had that freckle!" Tony freaks out as Gibbs removes his radio and puts it to his ear to talk to Ducky.

"Ducky," Gibbs says into the radio as we reach the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes, Jethro?" Ducky asks him over the radio.

"Give me the symptoms for haemorrhagic fever," Gibbs orders Ducky as I scratch my face in an attempt to not listen to the symptoms. I don't want to know… I don't want to have it and I don't want to die on a ship in the middle of the ocean… I want to be in Gibbs basement watching him not work on the boat… I don't want to be deathly ill again and without my sister… I need Kate with me if I am going to die because of Tony again. Gibbs holds the radio up so that it is in Tony's face and he takes it off of Gibbs to listen to it and I grab the hand that was holding the radio… I don't want to die… I haven't found out how Gibbs gets the wood into his basement.

"Well, initially, one might experience a feeling paranoia and a growing sense of dread. Then, more obvious physiological symptoms would manifest themselves," Ducky informs us making me fight the urge to cover my ears… if I don't hear it, it would happen.

"Such as?" Tony begs of him.

"Such as the appearance of atopic melanosomes."

"Come again?"

"Spots. Possible itchy. Then, a fast-rising fever, of course," Ducky explains as Tony holds his arm up to Ziva and McGee while Gibbs takes the radio back and clips it onto his belt next to his phone that has no serves.

"I know it. I'm going die. I inhaled it. God!" Tony exclaims while hitting the box in front of him before continuing, "Definitely didn't picture my demise like this. I always figured I'd go out like Cagney in _'White heat.'_ Fiery explosion. Or Redford and Newman in ' _Butch Cassidy'_ hail of bullets.

"Or Charlie Chaplin in _'the Gold rush,'_ " Gibbs offers to him making me smile into his arm, only Gibbs could joke when we're all dying.

"How did he die?" Tony asks Gibbs in confusion.

"Silently," Gibbs answers him. Gibbs and Tony stare at each other for a long moment before Ziva suddenly takes off.

"Ziva," I call to her while running after her quickly with everyone else. We run out the door and down a hallway before Ziva loses the scent of what she is chasing.

"Didn't you see that?" Ziva demands of us as we catch p to her.

"See what?" Gibbs and I ask her as he walks past her but I can't help wrapping my arm around the shaken girl.

"Someone, something was running," Ziva answers us but we all look at her in confusion because we didn't see or hear anything. She continues, "Surely I'm not the only one who say that."

"The Chimera?" Tony teases her.

"I swear there was something there."

"It's not here now," Gibbs reminds her.

"It rand down the passageway, it made a right here and then it…'

"And then?" Tony promotes her to continue what she 'saw.'

"It disappeared. I know there was something there," Ziva exclaims.

"Like my freckle!" Tony calls to Ziva as he walks away down the hallway. He comes to a door before calling out, "Boss? Biohazard." We all walk down to where he is standing to have a look. "Sounds inviting." The door as a keypad on it so we can't get in without the code or a Mc-Geek.

"McGee," Gibbs calls him over to have a look at it as I release Ziva and walk over too.

"Looks like some kind of cyber-lock with a bar code and touch memory," McGee informs us while looking at the handle.

"It's right up your alley, McGeek," Tony teases him.

"It's going to take time," McGee informs us.

"We're not allowed to go anywhere," I inform him calmly while attempting to hide my panic at that fact.

"Okay," McGee mumbles while kneeling down to get to work only for Gibbs to grab my hand and pull me away from the nerd. McGee exclaims, "Thought you said you weren't going anywhere." We walk down another hallway after leaving the geek to open the bad door, AKA the biohazard door.

"Of you want, Ziva, I could check you for spots," Tony offers Ziva.

"No, thanks," Ziva turns him down as we walk under a malfunctioning light that his blinking and buzzing.

"I'm sure you've got hot spots, warm spots," Tony flirts with her.

"DiNozzo. Get this to Ducky," Gibbs orders Tony while cutting him off and shining his torch on a blood rat making me step away from it… I don't like rats, they carry the plague. Which I survived but I am not tempting fate and giving it another chance to kill him.

"Me?" Tony asks Gibbs with as much fear in his voice that I am feeling at the moment. He continues, "That's a dead, diseased… rat." Gibbs shines his torch into Tony's facing while giving him the 'look' making him finish with, "Which is why it may aid Dr Mallard with his investigation. Which is why I'd be pleased as punch to walk back through this ship with a… dead, diseased rat."

"You can show Ducky your freckle," Ziva teases him as we walk off and leave him with his possible death… and I am not volunteering to walk with him or go near Tony until he is cleaned by a car wash or something. We walk down the halfway about halfway when all the lights suddenly go off making me jump and I can't see anything anymore. I can't stop my body from backing up into the wall as I am unable to drawl air into my body… it is so dark that I can't even see my hand in front of my face, if it is in front of my face… my chest feels tight while every musical in my body feels like there is lead in them and I don't know what to do, it is just so dark.

"Alice," Gibbs calls out but I can't respond to him instead I gasp for air while my body folds into a tight little ball on the ground. I feel something grab me making me scream in fear while attempting to get out of the hold of whatever is in the dark and air into my body at the same time.

"Alice, baby, it's me," Gibbs whispers while turning on his torch so that it is shining at my feet but it doesn't help me. Gibbs gently rocks me back and forth while holding me against his chest but I can't breathe and it's still so dark, even with his little torch going.

"Alice, baby, where's you inhaler?" Gibbs asks me while rubbing my back but I can't answer him making him reach down and feel in my pockets. He finds the inhaler in the left pocket of my NCIS windbreaker and he pulls it out and places the inhaler in my hand. I quickly bring the inhaler to my mouth and inhale the medicine as I spray it into my mouth.

"There you go," Gibbs mumbles as he rubs my back while I begin to get my breath back from that attack but I am still breathing heavy and looking around at the dark. After a few moments of my just sitting on the ground with Gibbs while catching my breath, Gibbs stands up and pulls me to my feet. "Let's go," Gibbs orders me as some lights come on. We walk halfway down the hallway when we begin to hear footsteps making Gibbs pull me to the side while turning his light off.

"I don't suppose you hear footsteps?" Ziva asks us.

"Yeah, I hear 'em," Gibbs answers ger softly. We all drawl our guns and point them towards where the footsteps are coming from. The footsteps step out of the door to our right and we turn our lights on while holding our aim steady.

"It's just me… and ben," Tony informs us while holding the rat up.

"How did you get in front of us when we left he behind back there?" I demand of Tony because we left him behind to get the rat to Ducky.

"DiNozzo, bag that thing," Gibbs orders him as we walk up to him while holstering our guns.

"Ziva?" Tony asks her while handing her a bag to open. He continues as he lowers the rat into the bag, "Thanks. Well, this moment is almost perfect. All we need is a storm." Ziva slams the bag into his chest and then there is a bang from further down the hallway Tony was walking in. We all look down it before Gibbs begins to walk down the hallway while shining his torch as we follow him. We walk around the corner only to see McGee laying on the ground.

"McGee?" Gibbs asks.

"Yeah," McGee answers.

"You alright?" I ask him as Gibbs pulls him up off the ground.

"I've had better days, Alice," McGee admits. He continues, "Tripped over a barrel. Made this kinda…"

"Bangy, crashy sound, like thunder?" Tony finish for him.

"Yeah," McGee admits.

"You crack the lock?" Gibbs asks him.

"Uh… No. not yet. The touch screen… it's a bit," McGee stutters out before Gibbs looks away from him in disappointment making him finish, "I'm working on it."

"Why don't you work on turning the lights back on?" Tony asks McGee.

"I think we just passed the electrical room," Ziva informs us while turning and walking back the way we just came.

"It's like _'Aliens.'_ Numero Uno. Ripley, light in hand, moving through endless corridors searching for a hideous monster. You ever see _'Run Silent, Run deep?'_ " Tony rambles as we all follow Ziva.

"The 'run silent' part sounds good," Gibbs comments.

"The electrical room should be… right here," Ziva informs us before opening the door number 4-5833. She opens the door and a man jumps out, pushing her into he wall while screaming before running off down the hallway. He only gets about four or five steps down the hallway before running into the wall and Ziva grabs him. Ziva pushes her gun into the underside of his neck while shining her torch into his face as we all cover her from behind. The mystery man begins to cry while looking at us all. The man has blood all over his clothing and he is sweating up a storm.

…

"Let me out of here!" The man call while pulling on his wrists that we have handcuffed to a railing so he can't run away again. We are all sweating and the room where in only seems to be getting hotter. I always thought it was only the guilty that sweat in integration but not this time.

"Here's the crew list. He's the cook," Ziva informs us as Gibbs shines his torch onto the guy's face. His name is Mitas.

"Get these shackles off of me!"

"Why were you hiding?" Gibbs demands of him.

"Why did you attack us?" Ziva asks him next without giving him a chance to answer us.

"Why did the crew abandon ship?" I demand of him next.

"What happened to Takada?" Mitas demands of us.

"You asking us?" I ask him in disbelief, he was on the ship when he died. Not us.

"It was that thing, wasn't it?"

"What thing?" Ziva demands of him next. She then whispers to us, "I know there was a thing."

"What thing?" Gibbs demands of him.

"They brought a thing out of the water. Takada was studying it. That's what killed him. Isn't it?" Mitas demands of us hysterically.

"Don't know," Ziva answers him making him lunge at her.

"Don't lie to me!" Mitas demands of us. He continues to pull on the cuffs while exclaiming, "It's killing me, too, isn't it?!"

"You know what if I don't kill you first. Sit sown, and tell us what happened here," Gibbs yells at him while physically picking him up and throwing him onto the stairs behind him. The displace of power Gibbs just used shouldn't be as hot as it is. Ziva and I walk closure to him.

"What happened to the crew?" Ziva demands of him.

"They abandoned ship," Mitas informs us.

"Why?" I ask him next.

"They thought whatever killed Takada was contagious. Captain forced me to stay behind. He thought I had already been exposed from all the blood he puked on me," Mitas informs us.

"Nobody sent a Mayday," Gibbs informs him.

"The radio operator was supposed to. He was the last to leave the ship," Mitas informs us.

"So you were left here alone?" Ziva asks him.

"I thought I was. And then someone hit me," Mitas informs us.

"Who?" I ask him softly.

"I don't know. They hit me from behind."

"Maybe they did, maybe they didn't" Ziva comments.

"Why would I lie?" Mitas asks us.

"Why were you hiding?" Gibbs demands of him.

"Why did you run?" Ziva asks him next.

"I thought you were the ones that hit me. There's someone else on this ship," Mitas informs us.

"What's in that biohazard room?" I ask him.

"Don't ask me. I'm just the cook."

"Oh, come on! You never overheard one conversation, one argument about what's locked up in there?" Ziva yells at him.

"That area was off limits to me!" Mitas yells back while sitting up and getting in Ziva's face who is standing behind me.

"Sit down!" Gibbs yells while slamming him back into the stairs. Again hot… and he continues, "You lice with these people, you sleep with them, you work with them, you can't tell me what's in that room?!"

"That's where it is. The bug," Mitas informs us after a moment of silence.

…

Tony's pov

.

"I don't get it. The breakers aren't tripped, the conduits are fine. Tony, check behind that panel over there," McGee orders me as I am standing in the corner sweating my ass off. Alice, Gibbs and Ziva are integrating the man we found in this room… I'm going to die and I am not ready yet. I walk over to McGee and stand right behind him in silence until he turns to face me and exclaims, "Tony?"

"Feel my head," I order him.

"I don't want to. It's all sweaty," McGee informs us.

"Exactly. I got the freakin' fever. I'm burning up, man," I complain to him.

"The ventilation is off, Tony. We're all burning up," McGee informs me while turning back to the electrical wiring… that unsympathetic dick.

"This is different. I'm dying, McGee," I correct him.

"You know, the last time you were dying of a horrible disease, you were a little but more stoic about the whole thing," McGee informs me. But um, no I wasn't. Alice and Kate had to deal with it but this time you do… and Alice we better than me, I think she had already excepted her early death before I met her… but I wasn't ready to die… the geek doesn't know that and I am not going to corrected him, let him think I was more excepting then.

"I was younger, carefree," I inform him.

"It was two years ago," McGee informs me. Hard to think that in two years I went from almost dying with Alice to losing Kate, Gibbs returning, Alice getting with Gibbs, to getting and losing Jeanne and no I am dying again. Big couple of years.

"The last time I almost died, someone blew up my car, so I've almost died twice, and this is the third time, and bad stuff happens in threes, and I'm out of almost. I'm telling you, man, this time I'm dying," I explain to him.

"But until… you are actual dead… can you please help me fix this thing?" McGee asks me making me node at him and he continue, "Go take a look behind that panel over there, see if maybe one of the leads got fried."

"Okay, thanks," I mumble to him while walking over to the panel he pointed to with his torch. I attempt to open the door but the handle is stuck making me kick it open and look at all the fuses inside of it. Nothing looks wrong until I get to the bottom of the panel and see batteries loose on the ground.

"I think I found the problem, assuming… this ship runs on tiny little batteries," I comment while walking back over to McGee with the batteries and a bag I found.

"Lithium," McGee comments as he looks at the batteries. He continues to explain to me, "Like camera batteries. Odd someone must have hidden them in there." He pulls out the things in the bag while commenting, "Transponders."

"From what?" I ask him.

"Well my guess… EPIRBs."

"That's my guess, too… what are EPIRBs again?" I ask him.

…

Shepard's pov

.

"Containment of aforementioned microbial species, deadly or otherwise, is to remain under the guardianship of the operation's chief scientist until such time it can be safely transported to Naval Research Headquarters," Skinner reads me in on the Chimera's mission in my office at NCIS tonight.

"Biowarfare research is illegal. We signed a treaty," I remind him as he sits on the conference desk.

"So did the Russians, and we've spotted their fishing trawlers in area of the Bering sea that aren't considered fishable," Skinner informs me like that makes it better. I bet this guy gets along with Alice, they have the same mind set about being wrong and doing the illegal thing.

"So two wrongful fishing expeditions make a right?" I demand of him.

"We're just trying to get our hands on the next generation of biological weaponry before our enemies do," Skinner informs me like that makes it better.

"Do you file that under deception or hypocrisy?" I ask him sweetly making him laugh at me.

"Non-disclosure agreement," He informs him while holding the form out for me to sign. I take the form and open it as he continues, "Do you understand why the Navy doesn't want anyone to know where the ship is or what it's doing?"

"And do you understand the Navy's secret could cost my agents their lives?" I demand of him while praying that Gibbs will be fine.

"I got a support vessel on its way with medical facilities on board and a decontamination unit," Skinner informs me.

"Great. Show it to me," I order him.

:How exactly do you propose I do that?"

"There must be an ORION or two that you could scramble overhead."

"I think you're gonna have to trust me."

"I don't know you well enough, commander."

"We can fix that."

"You can cut the charm," I say while leaning forward after thinking about it for a second. I continue, "Higher-ranking, richer, and definitely better-looking men have tried that on me and didn't get very far. Now, I can't speak for you, commander, but I didn't get where I am because of my looks, so get your eyes off of me and put some on that ship." He takes the Non-disclosure agreement back and puts it with he rest of his paperwork without responding to me.

…

Alice pov

.

We walk into the room that Mitas is cuffed in while Gibbs is carrying a bag that Tony and McGee found when trying to get us power back. Gibbs grabs one of the things out while throwing the bag back at Tony and then walking up to Mitas and putting it into his face while shining his torch at him.

"What's that?" Mitas asks us.

"Transponders you took off the life jackets," Gibbs informs him.

"Why would I do that?"

"You didn't want the crew located once they abandoned ship," I answer him calmly.

"I didn't sabotage any life jackets!"

"There's no one else on the ship," Tony informs him.

"There has to be."

"You were in the electrical room when the power went out," Gibbs implies that he is a rat and a killer.

"I would know who to shut off the power. I told you, I'm just the cook!"

"Just the cook? That's what Steven Seagal was in _'Under Siege,'_ look at the havoc he wreaked. What about _'The Hunt for Red October?'_ the saboteur… was the cook," Tony exclaims making Gibbs glare at him and he adds, "I'm sorry, boss, I'm just saying, that, you know, just 'cause he says he's the cook doesn't mean he's any less potentially guilty. He could have slipped poison into Takada's food."

"I swear, I didn't kill Takada!"

"Not with poison, at least," Ducky informs us while entering the room. We walk over to him as he continues, "The good news is I've confirmed beyond a doubt that Takada did indeed die of haemorrhagic fever."

"That's great news, Ducky," Tony says sarcastically.

"However, the virus was injected into him… it was not airborne. I've also examined the dead rat that Tony so heroically brought to me. Ironically, it died from having bitten Takada," Ducky informs us softly so that Mitas doesn't hear us.

"So I'm not gonna die?" Tony asks us.

"Tony, we're all going to die… just not today and not of haemorrhagic fever… if we're lucky," I inform him.

"Well, the bottom line is there was no outbreak on the ship," Ducky informs us.

"He was injected without knowing it," Gibbs summaries what Ducky is informing us.

"If I could do a proper and thorough toxicology, I think we'd find that he had first been drugged. Takada was murdered," Ducky informs us.

"Why would someone do that?" Tony asks us.

"TO scare everyone off the ship," I inform them.

"But why?" Ducky asks us as the power comes back on finally. Ducky continues, "I mean what's so valuable on this ship that someone would kill for it?"

"Yeah, about time, McGee," Gibbs comments as McGee enters the hall behind the room.

"boss, I had nothing to do with it. Someone's messing with us," McGee informs us.

"Maybe Mitas is right. Someone else is aboard," Tony comments before we hear a door open.

"Gibbs, up here!" Ziva calls out making us run out the doorway and down the hallway to the stairs that we then run up. We run along another hallway to we find Ziva at another set of stairs that are heading down. When we arrive she informs us, "I saw something running on desk."

"Something or someone?" McGee asks her.

"I don't know, it was moving fast," Ziva informs us as we descend the stairs.

"It or him?" Tony asks her.

"I don't know, I have lost it."

"I'll say."

"Gibbs, I swear…"

"I believe you, Ziva," Gibbs cuts her off.

"See? Someone else who believes in what they cannot see," Ziva exclaims as Gibbs walks past her looking at the ground.

"No,. I believe what I can see wasn't there before," Gibbs corrects her.

"That's not saying much, Jethro. Your vision isn't very good," I comment making Tony give me a look like I am the bravest and stupidest person alive. I shrug at him while following the wire across the boat deck to the edge where there is a light flashing.

"Someone's sending a signal," McGee comments as Gibbs smacks my ass making me jump.

"My vision is just fine," Gibbs whispers in my ear so that only I can hear him. I hear something begin to lower and turn around to see a crane lowering on top of Tony, without thinking I run and tackle him out of the way seconds before the load leans where he was a second ago.

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Tony comments as we get up and follow Gibbs and Ziva who ran off. We run up the stairs and Ziva and McGee take a different root to cut him off. He turns around and runs into Gibbs who punches him in the face. Gibbs and Ziva pull him up off the ground as I grab out my handcuffs and cuff him tightly.

"Mitas was telling the truth," Ziva comments.

"He's not exactly a ghost, but he's got a certain 'B horror flick' thing going," Tony comments as he finally catches up and leans on the wall.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with," the second mystery man informs us.

"Oh I think we do," I inform him as Gibbs searches his pockets and dog tags.

"Lieutenant Ferris," Gibbs reads out making me smirk, he can still see to read? Who know. He continues, "Communications officer."

"Who failed to communicate his crewmates abandoned ship," McGee adds as Ziva begins to man handle him down the hallway.

"You're bit very good at your job, are you Lieutenant?" Ziva asks him as she pushes him past Gibbs who releases the dog tags when the man is past him.

"You're wasting your time," Ferris informs us with a half-smile.

"No, I think we're wasting yours. The navy's on its way. You're going to the brig," Tony informs him.

"You'll be dead before they arrive," Ferris threatens us.

"Save it. We know about the virus," McGee informs him.

"Outbreak was a hoax to get the ship to your little lonesome," I inform him calmly.

"It's not the virus that'll kill you," Ferris informs us.

…

Shepard's pov

.

"Satisfied, director?" Skinner asks me while looking at a random ship in the middle of the ocean in MTAC.

"I'm not that easy, commander," I inform him.

"That doesn't surprise me," Skinner informs me while walking back closure to me only for a monitor to begin to beep.

"That must be your support vessel. Can we get any closer?" I ask.

"I'm sure we can," Skinner flirts with me making me miss the subtly of Gibbs flirting. I might not always notice his flirting until I think about it later over a drink but I always notice eventually. We zoom in on the boat but the boat is moving too fast to get a good look at it making me comment, "It's going to reach the chimera a lot faster than you said it would."

"That's not our support vessel," Skinner informs me truthfully for once.

…

"The approaching craft has no know identification," I inform Gibbs when I get a hold of him.

"That seems to be the way things operate around here," Alice comments snidely and rudely.

"Looks to be the size of a small assault vessel. Same type of boats I've seen used by marauders," Skinner informs them.

"Pirates?" Gibbs asks us while leaning onto the table Alice is sitting at.

"Cruise ships, tankers, steamers… they'll attack anything to make a buck."

"How long?" Alice asks us. I hate that they do that, swap who is talking… I could never get Jethro to do that with me and this little slut does it like it's normal.

"You should be able to put eyes on it any minute," I inform them as Gibbs looks at his watch.

"These people come heavily armed, Agent Gibbs. Automatic weapons, grenades, even RPGs," Skinner informs us.

"What are they after?" Gibbs asks us.

"I can't divulge that information."

" _'_ _I can't divulge that information,'_ " Alice copies him before continuing, "You tell us heavily armed pirates are coming to attack MY team. You better damn well tell me what they're looking for."

"Your agents hasn't been read in," Skinner reminds me.

"We don't fucking give a damn about your secrets, commander… we want to get home to our loved ones in one god damn piece… NOW TELL ME WHAT THEY FUCKING WANT," Alice yells at us while slamming her hand down onto the table. I think she thinks she is scary and has spent too much time with Gibbs. But while he is scary, she is just annoying.

"I can't do that," Skinner hisses back at her.

"Can someone give us a damn answer?" Gibbs snaps at us while walking around.

"Put me through to STRATCOM," I cut in while ordering the Tec.

"All right! All right! Wait! Look. The secret material they have dredged up from the ocean," Skinner begins to inform them.

"What am I looking for? Something the size of a bread box?" Gibbs cuts him off.

"A gallon drum? Because those where dropped on Tony," Alice continues. Why is she even in this meeting? I only asked for Gibbs? Not his fuck buddy.

"It can fit in a vial. But it's untested. Unproven," Skinner informs them.

"Ferris has already killed one guy," Gibbs begins.

"He's put twenty others at risk. This si worth something to someone," Alice continues.

"Boss, I cracked it," McGee states while walking into the room… great more of Gibbs fuckbuddies. Alice, Gibbs and McGee leave the screen together.

.

Alice's pov

.

"Now before we go in there, the power is back on, so the ventilation and filtration systems should also be back on," McGee rambles as we walk down the hallway away from the call with Shepard to the biohazard room. Gibbs is throwing his torch and catching it again. McGee continues to ramble, "I know it says 'biohazard,' but if there's anything biological in there, the room should be negatively pressured. Thing is, this." Gibbs opens the door and walks in making McGee stutter before finishing, "This… room is not. Boss… You-you really could risk exposure if you stay in there too long." Gibbs walks to the only thing in the room, a box on the table. Gibbs opens the box and looks in making McGee asks, "What is it?"

"Gibbs! We've spotted the assault craft. Five minutes, maybe less," Ziva informs us while jogging down the hallway to us.

…

No one pov

.

Ziva, Gibbs and Alice walk Ferris down the hallway to Ducky in his makeshift autopsy. McGee reads the manual to turn disable the ship. Ducky is mixing fake blood in a vial. Tony, Ziva, Gibbs and Alice meet in a hallway where they all load their guns, Ziva and Alice goes up the stairs while Tony and Gibbs walks past the stairs. McGee runs down a hallway on his own before making a left turn into another hallway.

The pirates come up beside the boat and tie onto it before boarding the boat. They point their guns around the deck before moving to secure the bridge like NCIS did when they get here.

"Find Ferris," the lead pirate orders his men in Russian. Ziva and Alice watch the men that are still on the deck, waiting for their chance to take them out. One of the Russian pirates walk past door 2-5830 inside of the ship, Gibbs, Tony and Ducky sneak out of that room when it is safe. Tony takes the lead while Gibbs covers their six.

The lead pirate pulls out a phone to make a call but someone calls for him. "Aleksei? Aleksei?" he puts the phone away before running into the ship. Ziva and Alice quickly and silently walk down the stairs but a fat pirate sees them making Ziva kick his gun before kicking him in the balls and elbowing him in the back.

"Aleksei," the man calls again letting the lead man follow his voice inside to where there is a dead body next to some bloody food. There is blood coming out of his noise and eyes.

"Ferris," Aleksei, the head man, whispers while kneeling next to the man. There is a note in Ferris' hand and Aleksei takes it to read.

VIRUS AIRBORNE

GET OFF THE

SHIP

Written long ways across the piece of paper torn out of a notebook.

"What's it say?" the man that called him in here asked in Russian.

"The virus. It's airborne," Aleksei informs him in Russian.

"Don't touch him."

"We have to get off the ship!" a third man exclaims in Russian before attempting to run out of the room.

"No," Aleksei says in Russian. He continues, "No! you'll be fine. We complete the mission." The two men look at each other before they both run off leaving Aleksei alone in the room. He runs after them while calling, "We complete the mission!" They run the length of the ship back to the deck with Aleksei on their take. When he gets to the door to the deck he calls out, "Stop!" he aims his gun onto them while commenting, "That's an order!" only to lower his gun when he sees the fat guy laying on the ground, dead. He walks over to the edge to see that his boat is gone. He comments, "They've got my boat. Bastards! Bastards!"

NCIS is riding away from the boat in the stolen boat. Gibbs is teaching Alice how to drive the boat so he is standing behind her. Gibbs has a small smile on his face while Alice is full on grinning. Ducky is to their left and Tony is standing behind them to the right with McGee behind him to the right and Ziva is beside him. Mitas is at the back of the boat behind Ducky.

"Dicky, how long before Ferris wakes up?" McGee asks Ducky.

"A couple of hours. It's take him considerably longer to wipe off the fake blood," Ducky answers him.

"How'd you disable the ship, McGee?" Tony asks him. Before teasing him, "Spew all over the engine?"

"Steering has several nonlinear effects… saturation, dead-zone, rate-limiting. Bottom line is, ship's still able… able to sail in one big circle," McGee informs them as Tony picks something up.

"Russian," Tony informs Gibbs while showing him the page. The sea water had wet everyone's hair from riding on the plane, which is when the boat sits on top of the water and travels faster.

"Yeah, orders from the Russian navy," Gibbs agrees after staring at it for a long moment. Maybe to read it or maybe to get his eyes to focus on the words.

"They weren't pirates?" Ziva asks them.

"Soviet state-sponsored pirates. But why?" Ducky informs her before asking his own question.

"McGee?" Gibbs orders making Gibbs open the box Gibbs found to show a Russian bomb.

"Russian nuclear warhead?" Ziva asks them.

"There's your ghost Ziva. The ghost of Soviet Project K-629," Gibbs informs them.

"So, this whole thing was a Russian black ops mission to recover their nuke?" Tony asks them.

"So, pirates that weren't really pirates but were actually Russian sailors were on a covert mission to steal a navy research ship that wasn't actually a navy research ship in order to get back nuclear weapons that we thought they didn't think we had retrieved?" McGee asks them.

"Uh-huh," Gibbs agrees with him with a big grin on his face.

"Okay."

"Perhaps we should call the Navy," Ducky comments he continues to explain, "Tell them that we're on the Russian black ship and the Russians are on theirs." They hear a missile and look over in time to see the ship blow up.

"Are we meant to be on that fire ball?" Alice asks while looking at the ship they just left.

"I guess the Navy didn't want anyone to know their black ship ever existed," McGee comments while turning from the fire ball.

"How did they know we were off the ship?" Ziva asks them.

"Don't think they did," Gibbs comments.

"Don't think they want us to be," Alice adds


	14. Cold Case

**_Hi, I apologies for not updating in over two month. I haven't been able to write because my mum passed away the day after I put up my last chapter. I didn't even have time to start and I could bring myself to write._**

 ** _She may have been sick but she wasn't on deaths door and then she was just gone… we didn't see it coming and I don't think she did either… she had a major heartache, after being told her heart was perfectly heathy. She was dead two days later, of a heartache. She complained to the heart doctor that her limbs were numb and they said it was because she was malnourished because of a medical condition, that the hospital could find the reason for._**

 ** _The worst part is that dad and I were only in the next room to where she died and didn't hear a thing. We thought she was just sleeping until dad moved her head to see her lips were blue. The ambulance people were brilliant, working on her for over an hour and never lying to us… I respect the ambulance people to the highest, the doctors was alright but the hospital in my town is very bad. They buried something I know happened and I have heard stories about them._**

 ** _Sorry about telling you all this but this is the only place I can vent without hearting my family and mums friends._**

 ** _When I thought I was ready to write again my uncles girlfriend died and I was stopped from writing again… we know she was going to die because she had cancer but I didn't think it would be that close to mum's passing and then the funeral was at the same place…_**

 ** _I hope you all had a better month that me. And I would love to hear any good news that you feel confrontable sharing. And if anyone needs to talk to me, I am always listen to someone's hard times…_**

 ** _..._**

I am wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, with a red singlet and Gibbs' Marine Corps field jacket over it all. I also have my combat boots and my horse belt that Gibbs' bought me ages ago.

I walk into the NCIS entrance and node to the guard while carry three cups of coffee.

"Afternoon Alice," Lisa, the guard, greets me while taking one of the coffees that I hand to her.

"Afternoon Lisa," I greet her while walking around the metal scanner because it always goes off. I have a could chips of metal in my shoulder from Ari shooting me and I can't be bother explaining it to everyone so the old director just signed an order that I can walk around the metal detector until I quit, ' _retire',_ retire, die, or get transferred. I continue to talk to Lisa, "So, who did you piss off to be working this weekend?"

"The director. And thanks for the coffee."

"Are so we both on the same bitch fest then?" I ask her with a grin.

"How are you not fired yet?" Lisa asks me with a grin.

"Fucking the man that the madam director wants to fuck. She can't fire me or else she has to deal with a grumpy, angry Leroy Jethro Gibbs who might 'retire' again," I inform her with a grin making her smirk at me.

"Lucky… who did you land that guy? I mean there is girls around here that have been trying longer then you have been on this planet."

"Almost died a couple of times and decided if he couldn't be bothered to make the first move I would. Snogged him in the hospital and has been together ever since," I inform her with a grin as Shepard and Mann walk through the main door together and that can't be good. They better not be coming here to get drunk again.

"Only you would think that would be a good idea," Lisa laughs at me while taking a sip of the coffee.

"What? It worked didn't it?" I ask her as I walk off towards the elevator. I step into the elevator as it arrives but before the door can shut Shepard and Mann step into the elevator with me.

"Afternoon," I greet them as I press the button for the squad room.

"Todd," Shepard greets me tightly.

"Here to get drunk again?" I ask them calmly making them both glare at me. I smirk back at them before adding, "Or are you here to fuck in the director's office?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mann demands of me.

"Nothing… but you won't be the first to be fucked over," I inform Mann calmly. The elevator arrives the level and I add, "Or to fuck in that room." I level the elevator and walk over to the squad room with the two women staring after me.

"What did you do?" Gibbs asks me as Shepard and Mann storm past the squad room and up the stairs as I place his coffee onto his desk and walks around behind his desk.

"Nothing," I say innocently while giving him my best, 'I'm a sweet little thing, that wouldn't do nothing," look and sit on the edge of his desk while looking at him.

"Alice," Gibbs says while giving me a look and places a hand on the corner of his desk so that I can't get away from him without answering.

"I just said they wouldn't be the first to fuck in the madam director's office… I mean, Lee and Palmer has been having a weekly meeting in there on Fridays since you quit," I inform him innocently.

"Retired," Gibbs corrects me before adding, "Do they know you were talking about Palmer?"

"Nope. They think you fucked me in that office. Want to make it true?" I sign to him innocently before walking over to my desk.

"Hey, it's not alright to talk with your hands," Tony exclaims from him desk.

"It's not okay to be an idiot but there goes two of them," I inform Tony while pointing to the director's office making him smirk at me. Gibbs gets up and walks away with his coffee towards the back elevator, maybe to see Ducky or something.

"So, what were you saying?"

"Nothing that your pervy mind needs to hear," I inform him with a smirk.

"What is it, Alice?" Tony asks me while getting up from his desk and walking over to me.

"Nothing, Tony," I answer him as he sits on the edge of my desk to annoy me.

"Is it something juicy?" Tony asks me.

"No comments?"

"Is it something about your sex life?"

"No comment," I answer him as I log onto my computer.

"Is it about the boat?"

"Tony, if we were talking about the boat, he would be lecturing me for insulting how he is does it, and that he doesn't get very fair with all the hours he puts into it."

"So, not the boat?"

"Not the boat… not this time."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"Nothing… can I get to work," I ask him hopefully before taking a sip of my coffee.

"Well, what were you talking about?" Tony whines at me.

"Nothing that you want to hear about your boss," I promise him as I sip my coffee.

"Like what?"

"Nothing that I am going to admit to in a federal building," I promise him calmly.

"Something illegal?"

"Something that the FBI doesn't need to know," I correct him calmly.

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that you where once a murderer, but not anymore because of NCIS," I inform him.

"Alice," Tony whines at me making me smirk at him.

"What? Is that not the truth?" I ask him innocently.

"I didn't kill anyone," Tony complains to me.

"Not according to the FBI or Shepard."

"But they were wrong."

"And you want me to say something that could send you back to prison?"

"Alice, I don't think that was what you said," Tony complains but I just smirk at him as I continue to open a random cold caser to read into and look for a new lead or something that we can use to catch the killer.

"I don't know what our talking about, I wouldn't lie to you," I inform him as I read about a little girl that was murdered in the car with her mother and the only two suspect the original investigator had was the husband and the wife's own sister.

"I will find out what you said," Tony promises me.

"I'm sure you would," I say sarcastically while taking a pen and paper and begin to write down notes of my own off of this file.

Attached to the case file is a photo of the family taken only that morning. The dad is standing behind the wife and daughter who are sitting on the couch. The husband is average looking with black hair and a slightly tanned face and arms. The wife is a beautiful lady with blonde haired that falls to her shoulders and free to blow in the wind. She is on the shorter side, with a big breast area that narrows at the waist and then wides again at her hips giving her an hourglass shape, she is also slightly tanned. The daughter is a cute little girl with strawberry-blonde hair that is pulled up into a piggy tail, she very tanned compared to her family. She is slightly overweight but it is just the baby fat that she hasn't lost yet. She is grinning at the camera showing that she is missing her left front tooth, and that she has a scar on her arm. They look like a normal family and you wouldn't know that two of them would be dead in under an hour and that the husband is not keeping it inside the marriage and the wife knows it.

The file states that the wife's name is Mary Parker, used to be Mary Mann. She was only thirty-two years old when she was murdered with twenty shots to her torso and a single shot to her head at close range. They found DNA under her nails but it couldn't be tested because it was too small for the time to be tested and therefore is still hasn't been tested.

The daughter was named Kelly Parker, and she was a baby at only eight years old at the time of her death. She was shot a grand total of 36 time, all at close range to the face, the poor girl was unrecognisable and had to be identified by the scar on her arm from when she broke her arm, falling out of a tree and breaking her arm badly when she was six years old. The poor girl lived for three days in the hospital before her heart failed. The girl had watched her mother get murdered while trying to hide on the floor of the car behind the chair and she was still shoot repeatedly.

The two suspends where Mary's sister and her husband. Neither one had an alibi because their alibi was each other and no one was able to say that they saw either of them at her house.

The husband's name is Gary Parker and at the time of the murders he was thirty-tree years old. He was an office worker at the army. He had a gun registered but no one could find the gun and he said it was stolen years ago but didn't bother to report it to the police.

The sisters name was May Mann and she was only sixteen years old when her sister was murdered. She was very tall with red-hair and is very pale. She has an average chest and no visible scars. They said they weren't having an affair but the NIS didn't believe them. They could prove they were having sex but they were at the house 'watching a movie' when Mary and Kelly was killed.

Whoever had killed these girls would have been covered in blood but these two had burnt their clothing before NIS could ask for it. NIS found seventy two fingerprints in Mary's brand new car that they only just picked up, five belonged to her husband while one to her sister. All the rest but for two partial prints, matched people at the car dealership. The husband and sister said they had never been in the car and that NIS must have planted the prints. To this day the two prints aren't matched to anyone and the DNA hasn't been ran. I pull up the criminal database and put in Gary Parker and searched. I found Gary who has a dozen DUIs and half a dozen prison sentences for the DUIs. He hasn't done anything violent, he has spent almost three years in court mandated drinking rehab but he never seemed to stay clean. His last Dui was last week and he is due in court next week for it.

I then search May Mann but I don't get a hit. I search the name in google only to find a Facebook page which I click on to see the profile photo is of May Mann and Gary Parker on a beach. And they are holding each other like a couple. Her last name has changed to Parker with her maiden name in brackets. She is now forty-five years old but she doesn't look a day over twenty. Her noise now looks different then when she was sixteen and her sister was murdered, so it might not be genetic good looks.

I search the name May Parker into the criminal data base and only find one arrest nineteen years ago for leaving her child and baby alone in the car when she went into an alcohol shop in the middle of summer. But beside that she has kept herself out of trouble.

I look into the ballistic, only to find that they couldn't work out what type of gun was used and that only half the evidence was tested before the case went cold. I look into the evidence and I find that it should be in the building at the moment. I hit the print button on my computer before getting up and walking over to the printer to get the file and place it in a manila folder. I walk towards the back elevator and press the button to call it to my floor. Once the elevator arrives I step into the empty elevator and press the button for the evidence locker. I wait for the elevator while bouncing my leg as I wait for it to get to the evidence locker. The door finally opens onto the evidence locker and I walk out and over to the locker.

"Afternoon, Todd," the evidence locker agent greets me.

"Afternoon, Smith," I greet her with a grin.

"What are you doing here, this fine weekend day," Smith asks me.

"I was hoping you could find evidence for the case November-Charlie-India-Sierra one-one-nine-three-five-two-nine-nine. It's a could case from 1979," I ask her hopefully.

"Come on, girl," She says to me with a grin as she opens the door for me to walk into the evidence locker.

"Where should I look?" I ask her.

"Third row from the end at the end," Smith informs me making me smirk at her.

"Thanks," I say to her while walking away from her towards the back of the locker. I look through all the boxes looking for the correct box of evidence.

It takes me almost an hour to find the correct box of evidence that is on the top shelf meaning that I have to get the ladder and lift it down. I walk to a table and grab the book to sign it out of the locker and sign my name with the information for the case. I walk towards the front and left the cage.

"Thanks, Smith," I say while walking towards the elevator.

"Have a good day," Smith calls after me as I step into the elevator and hit the button for the lab. I ride the elevator to the lab and step out of the elevator. I walk into the lab where Abby is playing her music.

"Hey Abbs," I greet her making her turn to face me.

"Alice, what do you have? Do we have a case?" Abby asks me excitedly.

"No. This is a cold case that I would like you too look into. Most of the evidences was never processed because of the limitations of the time and the case went cold. Could you process it for me?" I inform her while placing the box onto the table for her.

"Sure. Do we have new evidence or?" Abby asks me as she opens the box.

"Nothing new on the case. Still as cold as ever, but they didn't have you," I inform her with a grin making her smirk at me.

"I'll see what I can find," Abby grins at me.

"If you get a hot case, this can be on the backburner. It's old enough that a few more months won't change anything," I inform her making her grin at me.

"Okay," Abby says to me with a grin as I walk away back to the elevator and step in as it opens to see Gibbs already in there.

"What are you doing?" Gibbs asks me with a grin.

"Looking into a cold case. Nothing new to open it again but I am hoping Abs will find something helpful," I inform Gibbs calmly.

"You think there's something?" Gibbs asks me.

"I would hope so. No murder should get away with murder," I inform Gibbs.

"Who worked the case?"

"A NIS agent who was killed a year later," I inform him calmly.

"You see something?"

"The two suspects married each other and had a kid… when they swear they weren't together," I inform Gibbs while handing him the case file I printed out and been carrying it around with me.

"Who do you think did it?" Gibbs asks me while reading the file and the more he reads the tighter he holds the file.

"I don't know," I admit while taking the file back. I continue, "But I don't think they should get away with it and if Abby finds something we'll see were it goes from there."

"Keep looking into it," Gibbs orders me and I know that the case is personal for Gibbs. No one kills a kid if Gibbs is around.

"I will. I don't plan on letting this monster get away with this," I promise Gibbs while squeezing his hand for a second before the door opens and we walk back to the squad room together.

"DiNozzo, get back to work," Gibbs orders Tony as we walk into the squad room to see he is sleeping at his desk.

"Yes, boss," Tony exclaims while getting back to work as he gives me a look but I continue to ignore his questioning look.

…

"Ready to go home?" I ask Gibbs late tonight, hours after everyone else had gone home but Gibbs is a workaholic and doesn't like going home.

"Five more minutes?" Gibbs mumbles while reading his file.

"Jethro, you said that an hour ago," I remind him while walking behind his desk and rest my hands on his shoulders.

"Five more minutes," Gibbs mumbles again as I rub his shoulder.

"Jethro, you no good to us if you are grumpy on Monday," I whisper into his ear while wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

"Five more minutes, baby," Gibbs mumbles.

"How is it harder to get you to go home then it is to get you out of bed?" I ask him with a grin before gently placing a kiss on his cheek.

"I'll just finish this report," Gibbs mumbles.

"Jethro, that can wait to Monday. It's already oh-three-hundred on Sunday morning. I think it's time you go home and sleep," I order him as I reach around and grab the file which I pull out of his hands to close it.

"Alice," Gibbs begins.

"Jethro, you might not believe this, but you are a human that needs to sleep and not just live on coffee," I inform him.

"Alice, I need to finishes that file," Gibbs exclaims while turning his chair to face me.

"It can be finished tomorrow. Not now," I inform Gibbs as I place the file onto of the pile of files on his desk before grabbing his arm and pulling him up. I continue, "Let's go."

"Fine," Gibbs mumbles while standing up and grabbing his jacket, gun and badge before turning to leave with me.

"See, that's not so bad," I comment as I press the button to call the elevator. I step into the elevator with Gibbs and push the button for the ground floor.

"Did Abby get back to you about your case?" Gibbs asks me as he leans against the wall of the elevator.

"She's still running it. I am still going over the original crime scene photos. Something looks wrong but I can't work out what," I inform Gibbs while holding his hand.

"Keep on it," Gibbs orders me.

"I plan to… on Monday," I add before he could get in his stubborn head that he can go back to the squad room.

"Mmm-hmm," Gibbs hums while pulling me into a gently hug.

"I love you, Jethro," I mumble into his chest.

"Love you too," Gibbs mumbles while placing a kiss onto the top of my head softly.

"Better," I joke before releasing him as the elevator arrives at the ground floor and we walk out of the elevator and over to Gibbs' truck.

…

"Jethro, what are you doing?" I ask Gibbs as I walk into the garage to see him lying under his truck. I am wearing a pair of sweatpants and Gibbs' NIS jacket. Gibbs is laying on a rolling bed thing under the car. He is wearing a pair of sweatpants and an old, white that has turned grey shirt.

"The truck needed an oil change," Gibbs informs me as I walk over and knee so that I can see his face.

"Why?" I ask him as I look up at him as he looks at the bolt.

"Because it needs to be done."

"Why don't you pay for it? Not dirty your clothing?" I ask him with a smirk.

"Because I can do it."

"Fine. So not working on the boat then?"

"No."

"You two fighting or something?" I ask him with a grin.

"Hand me the three-eight socket," Gibbs orders me but I don't move making him add half-heartedly with a half-smile, "Please."

"That's better. You need the breaker bar too?" I ask him as I wall over to his toolbox and get the socket.

"Yes," Gibbs answer me making me grab the breaker bar and put the socket into it as I walk back to him. I knee down again and hand him it.

"There you go."

"Thanks," Gibbs says while placing the socket on the nut and then making sure that the oil catcher is lined up before he pulls on the breaker bar to open the plug on the oil.

"How often do you have to do this?" I ask Gibbs as I continue to watch him working on the car.

"Whenever I have driven five-thousand miles," Gibbs answers me.

"So, like weekly?" I ask him in confusion. My parents and Kate always just paid people to look after their car.

"About three months," Gibbs answers me as he removes the bung and lets the oil run out into the oil catch.

"That sounds expansive and annoying," I complain making Gibbs smirk at me while rolling out from under the car.

"But it makes the car work better," Gibbs informs me as he stands up and wipes his hands off onto a rag he had in his back pocket.

"Right," I mumble as I look at the oil in confusion.

"It gets us better fuel to the gallon," Gibbs informs me.

"Okay," I mumble while nodding.

"What did you want?" Gibbs asks me while looking at me.

"I was wondering if you would like lunch?" I ask Gibbs.

"Yeah," Gibbs agrees with me while following me out of the garage.

"Good. You need to eat more," I comment with a grin while leading him into the kitchen were I have made coffee, sandwiches and fruit salad for lunch.

"You planned this?" Gibbs asks me with a smirk.

"Would I do thing like that?" I ask him innocently.

"Because you do," Gibbs says to me while placing a quick kiss on my forehead.

"No, I don't," I exclaim in fake surprise.

"Yes, you do. What were you planning?" Gibbs asks me as he sits down and picks up ugly tony onto his lap.

"To make you join me. One way or another," I inform in with another innocent smile.

"How did you plan to do that?" Gibbs asks me as he feeds Tony a piece of apple.

"Point a gun at you? Or get Tony to bite you," I answer him with a shrug.

"Right," Gibbs laughs at me.

"I didn't think it through. But you were joining me for lunch," I promise him.

"You could have just asked me," Gibbs states while taking a sip of his coffee.

"You always say one more minute. And I don't see you for the rest of the weekend," I inform him with a grin.

"I do tend to do that… mainly to avoid the fights that always comes," Gibbs defends himself.

"Yeah, well, I'm not them," I remind them.

"I guess. But you can't teach an old dog new tricks," Gibbs reminds me while grabbing a sandwich.

"You said it, not me," I state while taking a sandwich for myself.

"Don't get cheeky with me," Gibbs warns me while wiggling his finger at me making me smirk at her.

"Why? What you gonna do?" I tease him with a smirk.

"You don't want to test me, Alice," Gibbs says in his deep voice.

"Why?" I ask him while looking at him.

"Alice."

"What?" I ask him innocently.

"Behave," Gibbs orders me while pointing a finger at me in warning but I just smirk at him.

"I don't think I will," I inform him with grin as he puts the dog onto the ground.

"That is your last warning. Don't be cheeky," Gibbs states.

"What you gonna do?" I challenge him again.

"You don't want to do that Alice," Gibbs warns me before reaching across the table and attempting to grab my shirt but I jump back out of the chair and his reach. I quickly move back towards the lounge room while watching Gibbs get up out of the chair.

I turn and run towards the stairs in the hopes of getting upstairs before Gibbs catches me. I race up the stairs and down the hallway with Gibbs quickly catching up to me. I quickly run down the hallway towards the bedroom. I run into the bedroom and shut the door before towards the bed but Gibbs quickly opens the door and grab me around the waist.

"What you gonna do know?" Gibbs asks me as he pushes me towards the bed.

"What's it to you?" I ask him as he pushes me onto the bed.

"You've been a bad girl," Gibbs informs me.

…

"Todd," I answer my ringing phone on Monday morning. I am wearing a red shirt and red jeans with my belt and combat shoes.

"Alice, come down here," Abby orders me before hanging up on me making me blink at the phone and getting up to do as I'm told for a change.

"Got a hot date?" Tony teases me while looking up from his computer that he is playing solitary.

"Yep… with Abby," I answer him with a grin before walking off leaving him looking after me. I walk to the back elevator and step into it before riding it down to Abby's lab. I arrive at the lab and leave the lift to see Abby bouncing around the lab to her loud music.

"What you got?" I ask her making her jump before looking at me.

"Ask me while I'm smiling?" Abby asks me.

"Because your you," I answer her while leaning against her.

"Fine. I found something that can make you open the case again," Abby explains to me excitedly.

"What?" I ask him.

"There was a baby in the car."

"Whose baby? Where?" I demand of her while stepping closure to her.

"I don't know whose. But it was in the car next to Kelly. In a seat but the seat was taken and so was the baby."

"Thanks Abby. Keep looking please," I beg of her before leaving the lab and step into the elevator while ringing Gibbs on my phone.

"Gibbs," Gibbs answers his phone after a moment.

"Jethro, where are you?" I ask him.

"Heading into the office," Gibbs answers me.

"I'll meet you there," I inform him before handing up the phone. I ride the elevator up to the squad room and exist the elevator. I walk into the squad room before Gibbs arrive, therefore I walk over to his chair and sit down making Ziva look at me in surprise. No one sits at Gibbs desk but for Gibbs since I got my own desk.

"Alice, what do you have?" Gibbs asks me as he walks into the squad room with his coffee.

"Maybe a reason to re-open the Mary and Kelly Parker case," I inform him while handing him what Abby found. He takes the file and reads through it to the best of his ability without his glasses.

"What do you think?" Gibbs asks me.

"I think that the killer needed a baby for something or someone. And we owe it to those girls to find the person," I state.

"I agree," Gibbs says while pointing for me to get out of his chair and I stand up before moving back to my desk as he sits down. He continues, "DiNozzo, Alice, look into it."

"Thank you," I say to him before Tony gets up and follows me out of the squad room towards the elevator.

"Where are we going?" Tony asks me as we step into the elevator.

"The lockup. Apparently no one picked up the car from the murder. Lets see if we can find it," I inform him as I walk into the elevator.

"Why am I doing this again?" Tony asks me.

"You want to be left alone in the squad room with Jethro, who is going to work out you are just playing cards on your computer?"

"Point taken," Tony comments as we walk out of the elevator at the ground floor. We walk out to the car and hope into it before driving off to the car lot that NCIS keeps their evidence cars.

…

"Where do we start?" I ask Tony as we walk into the car lot that hundreds of thousands of cars lined up.

"I don't know," Tony answers me as he looks around.

"Lets… split up," I mumble while looking around.

"What are we looking for?"

"Um… SUV, brown. DC plate FN nine-seven-one-three," I inform Tony while looking around the lot in surprise.

"Right. I'll go left," Tony informs me.

"Right. Call me if you find it," I inform him before walking off towards the right to look for the car, that hopefully haven't been destroyed by time and an act of god or humans.

I walk around looking at random cars and bike and vans that we have collected over the years while looking for the right SUV. There are thousands of SUVs in this yard and could take months to look at all of them. I walk around the yard for half the day before finally finding the correct car and breath a sigh of relief, my feet are killing me from walking around and I am overly board, there is only so long you can enjoy looking at hundreds of random cars, and that time is long over.

"Tony, got it," I call out to him as I look at the car in surprise.

"Where are you, Alice?" Tony asks me as he looks around for me.

"Follow my voice," I call back out before decide to call out until he comes, "Monkeys. Monkeys. Monkeys. Monkeys. Monkey. Monkey."

"Really?" Tony asks me in amusement as he walked over to me.

"What? It worked," I inform him calmly.

"Your weird," Tony complains as he unlocks the car with the key we took from NCIS evidence for this car.

"What do you expected? You've meet my family," I remind him as I open the door and lean into the car to look for something to give us reason to bring it back to NCIS for Abby.

"I guess," Tony agrees with me. He continues, "You know what this reminds me of?"

"I don't know. But I am guessing it is a movie from before I was born," I mumble as I feel under the chairs of the car only to pull my hand back when I grab something. I pull it out only to see that it is a gun… I call out, "Tony, look what I found."

"Is that a gun?" Tony asks me in surprise.

"Yep… what do you want to beat that it is the missing gun that the husband lost?" I ask him as he takes a photo of the gun before I bag it.

"I think we can bring this car back for Abby," Tony comments while pulling out his phone to call for someone to come and get the car.

…

"Abs, I got you a present," I call out as I walk into the lab while holding the gun we found.

"Really? And it's not even my birthday," Abby exclaims while taking the gun and looking at it.

"Check that against the bullets from Kelly and Mary please. And Tony is bringing a car for you to go through," I inform her happily.

"Cool. Looking forward to it," Abby informs me as she puts on some gloves and pull out the gun to look it over.

"Have you found anything else?" I ask her as I lean onto her desk as she looks down the gun.

"Nothing yet. I am running the gun through the database but nothing yet. I think it is a .22," Abby answers me with a grin. She continues, "Huh."

"What is it?"

"The owner of this gun never cleaned it. It is jammed," Abby informs me.

"Anything else?"

"I looked over the clothing and found two fibres on Kelly's clothing but I have nothing to compare it too. It is wool," Abby informs me.

"Okay. I'm going back to work. Call me if you find anything," I ask her as I walked away.

"Going back to work or back to Gibbs?" Abby asks me with a grin.

"Whichever I run into first," I answer her with a smirk.

"Have fun."

"Oh, I plan too."

"Don't do anything Tony would do."

"That leaves me eating healthy and getting into a committed relationship," I complain to her before leaving her to laugh behind me.

…

"What do we have?" Gibbs asks Tony and I as he walks into the squad room with two cups of coffee that he hands me one. We are the only ones working this case at the moment because we don't have enough evidences to open the case fully, but two people is okay.

"Tony and I found a gun in the victim's car. Under the chair where Kelly was sitting when she was murdered," I inform Gibbs as I picked up the plasma screen with a photo of the gun in my hand and then the black and white photo of the crime scene of the little girl dead on the chair with a stuffed toy on her lap.

"Abby said the gun in a .22. which is consistent with the murder weapon," Tony adds before continues, "She is going over the car and evidence at the moment."

"Anything else?" Gibbs demands of us.

"The two suspects are married to each other now, with kids. They got married two years after the murder because May, one of the suspects, was underage at the time," I inform Gibbs while putting up their marriage certificated up onto the plasma screen.

"Mann?" Gibbs asks me about the last name on the marriage certificated.

"Yeah. Mary's last name was Mann but changed it when they got married. So did May," I inform him as I put up Mary's marriage certificated next to May's certificated.

"Anything else?" Gibbs asks us.

"Abby's going over all the evidence and we're waiting on something before we bring in the two suspects to talk to them," Tony informs Gibbs.

"Find something concrete before tonight, or Shepard wants you back on paperwork… and we have a sexual harassment meeting tomorrow," Gibbs informs us.

"I'll go see if Abby's got anything yet," I exclaim quickly before grabbing my coffee as I walk towards the back elevator. I walk into the elevator with five other people already in it. I hit the button for the lab and then step back so that there is run for other people. All the people in the elevator is older woman, who are giving me looks of jealousy and disgust but I just ignore them because women have been giving me them looks since it came out that I was dating Gibbs. I stand in the elevator as we arrive on the ride it down in silence without saying a word to each other. The elevator finally arrives at the lab and I walk out without saying anything and into the lab were Abby is playing her music loudly like normal.

"Have we got anything yet?" I ask Abby as I turn her music down so that we don't have to yell at each other but I leave it playing softly in the background.

"Yes… how did you do that?" Abby asks me as she spins around to face me.

"Do what? Turn your music down?"

"No, always come when I find something?"

"Because I know you. You always find something," I inform her with a grin making her grin back at me.

"The gun, it is the murder weapon. That is conformed."

"That it?" I ask her disappointedly. That's not enough for us to open the case and the gun wasn't in a persons hand, we found it in the car.

"Would I do that to you?" Abby asks me.

"What else do you have then?"

"The prints. The unidentified prints belonged to the sister."

"And?"

"Give me a minute. You haver people all around you all day but I am down here on my own. Let me have my moment."

"DO you want Jethro to get you assistant again?"

"No," Abby exclaims making me smirk at her before she continues, "I ran the fibre. I thought it was wool and it is. This type of wool is only used in clothing, toys and baby blankets. It was dyed pink with little bit of green in it."

"Something coloured but that won't help us. Case has been cold since '79. Whatever it is, the killer would have gotten rid of it by know. We don't even have suspect clothing because it was burnt," I inform her.

"I'm still not done. You've spent to much time with Gibbs, he's rubbing off on you," Abby teases me.

"Only on a good day."

"Really?"

"What else do you have for me? Something good."

"The gun had its serial number filed off but I was able to get it back," Abby informs me while showing me a photo of the restored serial number. She continues, "I ran it thought the gun registration database and got the owner."

"Who?"

"Gary Parker. We found the missing gun," Abby informs me as she hands me a copy of the file.

"That is or you still biting your time?"

"That's all."

"Thanks Abs. You're the best," I say as I turn to leave but stop to turn her music back up for her to go deaf to the music. I walk back into the elevator and ride it back to the squad room where everyone is working but only Tony is working on this case.

"What did Abby find?" Gibbs asks me.

"We have a reason to bring in the husband for questioning," I inform Gibbs while handing him the file.

"Tony, call him," Gibbs orders him while handing Tony the file, which has his latest information on it because the guy has a gun registration to him at the moment.

"On it boss," Tony exclaims while picking his phone up to call Gary to come into NCIS.

…

I walk into the squad room the next morning in a silk white business shirt tucked into a pair of black skin-tight jeans that are tucked into my combat boots. I am wearing my horse belt and the leather jacket Ducky brought me. I just ducked out to get coffee for Gibbs and me while waiting for Tony and Gary Parker to arrive.

"Morning Ziva," I greet her because she wasn't here when I left for coffee.

"Morning, Alice," Ziva greets me from her desk.

"Where's McGee?"

"Lab."

"Gary Parker has just arrived," a female agent informs me as I walk over to my desk in the squad room.

"Thanks," I say to her as I take my jacket off and put it on the back of my chair. I pick my phone up and call Tony.

"DiNozzo," Tony answers his ringing phone.

"Tony, where are you? Gary Parker has arrived," I inform him.

"I'm on my way," Tony says into his phone before hanging up on me. I guess he hasn't left his victim's house yet.

"Hurry," I order him as I sit at my desk.

"I'll be there in a bit," Tony informs me before hanging up.

"I'll be there in a bit," I copy Tony before I take a sip of my coffee with a scuff at him.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asks me as he walks into the squad room.

"Waiting on Tony," I complain to him as I hand him the second coffee I got.

"That all?" Gibbs asks me with a grin as he walks over to his desk.

"It's annoying," I complain with a pout.

"That's DiNozzo."

"Whose side are you one? Mine or his?"

"Neither."

"Meany."

"Get back to work."

"I am working. I am working on driving you back to quitting," I inform him calmly.

"I didn't quit."

"Right… and Tony's not late to work," I say sarcastically.

"Alice. Work," Gibbs orders me while pointing to my computer.

"Fine," I mumble as I turn on my computer and log into my email. I look through half the spam that is in my inbox and deleting it slowly. Halfway through my mail I find a letter from my mother, someone I haven't heard from since we put her husband in prison for hiring a hit man. I hesitate before opening the email and begin to read it. The title is Mr John Todd and Mrs Grace Todd. (I couldn't find Kate's parents names online, so I made them up. If you find them, let me know.)

'Alice.

I don't know how you did it but my husband isn't guilty of anything and I will get you to admit it. You can change your testimony now and save your 'fiancé' the trouble of finding out you are nothing but a lying whore. I might not even tell him about how you will abandon him as soon as something better comes along.

You have until the end of the month to come forward or my lawyer will be onto you. You will have to admit that you lied under oath and planted evidence to defame an innocent man.

I will have you for slander of our names and I will get you put in jail or in the ground with MY DAUGHTER, you know the one you murdered.

YOU ARE NOT MY DAUGHTER OR BLOOD. YOU ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH. AND I HOPE YOU DIE BEFORE I GET MY HANDS ON YOU.

IF I NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN, IT WILL BE TOO SOON. I HOPE YOU DROP DEAD… BEFORE YOU KILL SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILD LIKE YOU KILLED MINE.

YOU ARE NOTHING BUT AN UGLY LITTLE WHORE WHO IS THE CUM SHOT I SHOULD HAVE SWALLOWED. I WISH I MISCARRIED YOU WHEN I WAS PREGNANT OR JOHN HAD KILLED YOU BEFORE ANYONE EVEN KNOW YOU WHERE ALIVE… NOT THAT I WOULD CALL WHAT YOU HAVE AS A LIFE.

I WANT YOU TO STOP USING MY LAST NAME. YOU HAVE A WEEK FOR THAT. CHANGE YOU NAME AND STOP LYING ABOUT MY HUSBAND… WHEN YOU GET MARRIED DON'T BOTHERING INVITING ANY OF MY FAMILY, I TOLD THEM THEY AREN'T ALLOWED TO SHOW UP. YOUR NOT PART OF THIS FAMILY. NONE OF THEM WILL COME AND THEN YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT TO 'YOUR BOYFRIEND.'

Not your mother

Grace Todd.'

I quickly close the email and run my mouse up to delete because I think she's bluffing but something makes me hesitate and save it to a file called not work. I read through the rest of my emails while attempting to forget what my mother wrote to me, I thought she was trying to repair our relationship but she just made it worse and I don't know why I am surprise.

"Alice, ready to go?" Tony asks me as he walks into the squad room making me look up at him before wiping my eyes and get up to follow him to interrogate this guy. We walk in silences until we arrive at the interrogation room and walk into it.

"What is this about? I've been here for hours," Gary Parker complains as we walk over and sit across from him at the table.

"This is about the murder of your wife," I inform him.

"Murder? When? How? Who?" Gary demands of me.

"What do you know when? How? Who? You know that already," Tony exclaims in confusion.

"I was supposed to meet her for lunch," Gary mumbles making Tony and I look at each-other in confusion. What is going on here? Who is he talking about? Does this guy have something wrong with his memory and doesn't know his wife is dead?"

"Mr Parker, we're here about the murder of your wife… Mary," Tony explains to him slowly making Gary glare at us.

"May's alright. She's not dead then?"

"No… we found new information on Mary and Kelly's murder and was hoping to go over your old information… the lead detective is dead or we would be talking to him," I inform Gary calmly.

"What new information?" Gary ask me while getting over the shock of thinking his second wife is dead.

"We found the gun that was used in the murder," Tony informs him while placing the photo of the gun in front of him on the table.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"It's your gun… the one that you lost," I inform him while showing him the photo of the recovered serial number.

"So?"

"Do you remember where and how you lost it?" Tony asks him.

"It was in my gun safe the last time I cleaned all my guns."

"And when was that?" I ask him as I hand write the notes of what he is telling me.

"I don't know. That was like three decades ago."

"Twenty eight years ago… take a guess, when was the last time you remember seeing the gun."

"I don't know… maybe a month or two before the murder."

"How many guns did you have at the time?" Tony asks him.

"Six… two hands and the rest was shot guns," he answers us without hesitation.

"How many do you still have?"

"None. I sold them all… got more into collectable handguns, older the better," Gary informs us happily.

"Who had access to the safe?" I ask him calmly.

"Um… me, Mary and the safe company," Gary informs me making me hum as I write it down.

"Do you know who would want to kill Mary?" Tony asks him next.

"No. I didn't know of anyone who would want to kill Mary. She was loved by everyone."

"What about your new wife?"

"No… May loved her sister."

"Not enough, not to get with her husband," I comment while looking at him.

"Heart wants what the heart wants."

"When did the heart decide that? Before or after your first wife was murdered?" I ask him calmly while looking at him.

"Listen here, I didn't cheat on my wife… ever," Gary hisses at me angrily while slamming his fist into the table between us and him.

"Are you sure?" I ask him innocently making him glare at me.

"I'm out of here," Gary exclaims while standing up and storming off.

"Of course, you could do that," I start as he reaches the door. I continue, "But what happen to the baby?"

"What baby?" Gary demands of me while turning around to face us.

"The one that was in the car when you murdered your wife?" I ask him innocently.

"There wasn't a baby in the car… she… why," Gary mumbles brokenly while staring at us in confusion while leading on the wall beside the door.

"Do you know who killed your wife?" Tony asks him calmly.

"No… why would she have a baby in the car?"

"Do you know whose baby it would be? Did your wife have a baby?" I ask in calmly.

"No… well, yes."

"Which is it, yes or no?" Tony asks him calmly.

"She couldn't have a baby, so we hired someone to carried it for her… I didn't know the baby was born… I was meant to be in the birthing ward with them…"

"Do you know where the child is know?" I ask him carefully while getting up and walking around the table and kneel next to him. I place my hand on his arm, while looking at this confused man, he really didn't know about the baby being in the car.

"She said she had the baby after," Gary mumbles.

"Who did? This baby deserves answer… answers that it shouldn't need," I inform him softly as I rub his arm.

"Please, it's the only mother my baby knows… I don't want her to hate me," Gary informs me.

"We'll work this out… or you could tell us."

"I can't… it's illegal to use surrogacy…"

"We're don't care about that. We care about the murder."

"I can't… please don't make me…'

"Can you wait here as we talk to our boss?"

"Okay," Gary nodes as I stand up and walk out with Tony. We walk back to the squad room in silence.

"What did you find?" Gibbs asks us.

"They hired a surrogate to get another child… Gary Parker didn't know that the baby was born and in the car at the time of the murder," Tony reports to Gibbs as we come to a stop in front of his desk.

"Do you believe him?"

"Yes," Tony and I answer him together.

"Did he give you anything to find the mother?" Gibbs asks us.

"No… but she is still in his life and so is the kid," I inform Gibbs.

"What else?"

"What if it's not the first child she carried for them? Maybe Mary couldn't carry any children," I theorise.

"Find the surrogate and see where that lead goes," Gibbs orders us making us node at him before walking at our desks to work this lead for the moment.

…

"Ma'am, Mr Parker's wife is here to talk with you," the female agent informs me again.

"Thank you," I say with a smile while looking at May, time has not been kind to her, she is turning grey and her face is full of wrinkles, she looks years beyond her forty-four years of age. She is wearing a designer suit and heels. I stand up with a smile as I straighten my shirt before holding my hand out while saying, "Mrs Parker. My name is Special Agent Todd."

"You have my husband in custody," May informs me while sticking her noise up in the air without shaking my hand. I lower my hand slowly, this is not going to be easy to please and stop a fight with this woman.

"We just had somethings we had to verify before we could release him," I inform her calmly.

"About what?"

"The murder of your sister… we found some new evidences and had to get some additional information from Mr Parker. I smile at her before continuing, "Would I be able to ask you a couple of questions about your sister?"

"Why? It's three decades ago."

"Twenty-eight years ago and as I said before we found some new evidences and just need to look into it," I inform her calmly. She doesn't know that we actively looked for the evidence to reopen the case.

"Whatever."

"Please come with me."

"Why?"

"I need to talk to you somewhere more private where I can talk to you without anything else being on the recording for me to put into the report," I explain to her while leading her out of the squad room and over to an integration room, but where her husband is still sitting and waiting for us to release him. I point to the table while saying, "Have a sit."

"What do you want to know?" She demands of me while sitting down and placing her bag on the table.

"What do you know about your sister's marriage?" I ask her while taking me notebook out of my paints pockets to write her answers down.

"Not much."

"Come on. Everyone says you where closure to your sister. I know everything about my sister's relationships," I inform her with a smile hoping to disarm her.

"They weren't happy," May finally admits.

"Why not?" I ask her with a grin.

"They always fight… they tried not to fight in front of family but there was always tension."

"Really, do you know what they were fighting about?"

"Money, infidelity, spending, anything, everything," May informs me.

"Do you think that he would want to killer her?"

"NO."

"Do you know anyone who would want to kill her?"

"No, why are you asking me this know. Is he a suspect?" May demands of me.

"No, but is there was tension, I have to ask this questions… I just want to get answers for her death… Who do you think would have killed her?" I ask her softly like she isn't a suspect.

"I don't know," May informs me.

"How did you get with her husband?" I ask her with a smile.

"He was always there when I needed help with Mary's death and we got close… one thing lead to another and it just happen."

"And you feel in love and got married," say with a smile, that sounds nice… but false like she is telling a fairy tale and not how she got with her husband.

"Yeah, it was nice," May informs us.

"Did you know Mary was expecting another child?" I ask her.

"No… Mary was… unable to have children."

"When did you find that would?"

"We always know… when she was a child the doctors discovered that she has no eggs," May informs us.

"How did she have Kelly then?" I ask her.

"I don't know… they just had a baby one day and no one questioned it."

"Do you have the same medical condition?" I ask her.

"No, why?"

"I heard that you had some kids and if you did maybe your husband used the same surrogate. One more question… do you remember anyone acting suspicions around the time Mary and Kelly was murdered?" I ask her.

"No," May answers me.

"Thank you… we'll get your husband released as soon as we can."

…

I looked into the hospitals in the area of the murder for a baby being born but I haven't found anything yet. The biggest trouble we seem to have is not knowing what day the baby was born because we have a five day window that Gary Parker didn't go home before the murder and we don't even know who the mother is and if Mary was in the delivery room, and if she was no one would remember that twenty-eight years later… and there wouldn't be photos anywhere to look at. The squad room is empty because everyone else is at the sexual harassment meeting because they aren't actively working the case.

"Why is this so hard?" Tony exclaims while slamming his phone down onto the holder in anger that we haven't found anything yet.

"Because it's a cold case," I remind him as my phone begins to ring making me answer it with, "Agent Todd."

"Alice, get down here," Abby orders me making me node even knowing she can't see it.

"On my way," I inform her before hanging up and then informing Tony, "Abby has something." We both get up and walk towards the back elevator silently. We ride the elevator down to the lab in silence and walk out into the loud lab where Abby is happily working.

"What do you got, Abs?" I ask her with a grin as I lower the music so we don't have to yell at each other while talking.

"Something amazing."

"A new computer?" I tease her.

"No… but that would be amazing."

"What do you have then?" I ask her with a smirk.

"I processed the gun some more."

"And?" Tony asks her.

"I got prints… well partial prints," Abby informs us.

"Do we have an owner of the prints?" I ask her.

"Gary Parker," Abby informs us.

"We expected that. He is the owner of the car," Tony reminds her while cutting her off.

"I'm not done yet," Abby complains.

"He's trying to be Jethro because we're the only ones working this case," I inform Abby making her look at me with a surprised smile.

"Really? Since when? Gibbs always works as a team."

"Yep… guess he trusts us or doesn't think we'll find anything… either way we need to catch this guy or girl for the murders," I inform her.

"I also found another set of partial prints," Abby informs us with a grin making me smile back.

"Who?" Tony asks her.

"You tell me," Abby informs us while handing us the results of the prints match making me smirk at her… we are getting closure.

"Anything else?" I ask her quickly.

"Yep, I had a look at the car and found some blood, which doesn't surprise me because of the murders but where it was that surprised me."

"Where was it?" Tony asks her making her pull up a photo of behind the car seat where you secure the baby seats and there is a drop of blood, just one.

"Do we have a match?" I ask her.

"Partial match," Abby informs us while pulling up the partial match to someone in the database.

"Nail in the coffin."

"Yep… one more thing," Abby adds.

"What?" Tony and I ask her together.

"I found this," Abby informs us while picking up an evidences back with a cassette recorder in it.

"What's on that?" I ask her.

"They were recording the song on the radio when the murder happen… it recorded the murder including the killers voice."

"Thanks, Abs. you're the best," I exclaims while before following Tony out of the lab and back into the elevator. We ride the elevator up to the walkway out front of the director's office in silence. I step out of the elevator first with Tony behind me.

"I'll get the team," I inform them while moving towards the sexual harassment meeting.

"I'll get a warrant," Tony informs us.

"Okay," I mumble while opening the door and having everyone staring at me. I speak up, "Jethro, we have it."

"What do you have?" Shepard demands of me while Gibbs walks over to me and looks at the file I found, proof of who murdered these two people.

"McGee, Ziva," Gibbs calls to his team while getting ready to leave with me without answering Shepard.

"You can't leave," the sexual harassment lady complains.

"Do you want to be the reason a child murder gets away and possible kills more children?" I ask her making her stand there while opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

"Um," she mumbles.

"Oh, I don't have time of this today," I mumble before speaking louder, "We won't sexual harass someone. We have self-control."

"We have to go," Gibbs states before walking out with McGee following him. I quickly turn and follow them out of the room without another word as Ziva takes the rear. We walk down to the squad room where Tony is on the phone and hangs it up as I arrive.

"They left the premises an hour ago and no one knows where they went… they just walked out because they didn't have to stay long term," Tony informs us.

"Gear up," Gibbs orders us while walking over to his desk to get his gear… the reason we are rushing is that this person has young children and could kill again to get away with what they did then… I rush to my desk and get my gun, bag and jacket quickly. We all rush to the front elevator as a group.

…

Gibbs brings the car to a skidding stop outside of a house while covering the driveway so they can't use the car as an escape route. McGee is sitting in the back of the car while I sit in the front with Gibbs. Ziva and Tony took another car because they are stopping to get the warrant that Lee is getting us.

We all get out of the car quickly and drawer our guns and move to the back of the car. Gibbs opens the back of the car and we all get out and put on our NCIS bullet proof vest for added protection because of the guns in the house.

"Warrant?" Gibbs asks Tony as he walks across the road to us with his vest already on.

"Here, Lee said to remind you that we have to properly identify us before kicking the door down," Tony informs us while handing Gibbs the warrant.

"McGee, Tony, take the back door. Ziva and Alice, take the side door. I'll take the front door," Gibbs orders us while pocketing the warrant. We all node while putting our earpieces in and quickly and quietly move towards our designated area.

"In position," Tony informs us through the radio.

"Position," Gibbs says.

"Ready," I mumble while standing to the left of the side door with Ziva on the right.

"NCIS, we have a warrant," Gibbs calls out before kicking the door in and we all follow with kicking our doors open and rushing in.

"Clear," Tony calls out as he searches the back room.

"Clear," Ziva repeats while we search the laundry room before moving further into the house.

"Clear," Gibbs mumbles into the radio. I clear the next room with Ziva and we go to move on when I hear something behind me.

"Psst," I whisper to Ziva as I turn around and point my gun behind us while moving back towards the wall where I heard the sound but there is nothing there. I guess I am just paranoid so I turn back around and continue to clear the house with Ziva.

"Clear," Tony calls again.

"Clear," Gibbs calls as Ziva and I meet him in the kitchen. Gibbs gives us a look before pointing upstairs for us to cover him as he continues upstairs. I follow him as Ziva guards the front door, we clear each room in the house and we can't find our suspect or anyone for that matter… they did a runner.

"That was a waste of time," Tony complains as we look around the empty house.

"Look around… see if you can find where they went," Gibbs orders us making us node at him. I walk back upstairs and begin to go though all the rooms upstairs. The first room I go through seems to belong to a little girl, her single pink bed isn't made and on the wall there is photos of pop-singers. There is toys all over the floor and looks like a tripping hazard. All the clothing is still in the closet and there is a much loved teddy bear on the bed. I pick up the teddy bear that is missing some of its fur and the left ears is falling off. The teddy bear is pink with green feet. I bag and tag the teddy bear just because it is the same colouring as the fabric in the car and it feels like wool to me through the gloves I am wearing.

I move onto the next room with the toy, no child will leave behind it's favourite toy, they had to be taken. The next room is painted blue with two bunk beds in it, meaning there can be four people sleeping in it. Each bed is made perfectly and there doesn't seem to be any toys in this room. All the clothing is also in the cupboard in this room.

I walk to the door straight across the hallway which turns out to be a bathroom. On the bench there is six toothbrushes placed on the sink. I look into the cupboard but it only has soap in it. I leave the bathroom and move to the next room which is a white could with photos of the girl about my age, or slightly older… she is very pretty. The bed is made again and all the clothing is in the cabinet again. I walk over to the table under the window and it is full of schoolbooks. The name on the books is Mary, and she seems to be doing well in school, all A's and B's. I look around the room some more and I find her computer, phone and all her electric devices… since when does a teenager not have her electric devices on them?

I leave the room and move to the room at the end of the hallway which turns out to be the master bedroom. I look all around the master bedroom, there is nothing to say that a couple live here. I walk into the master closet where some of the clothing seems to be missing and all the jewellery but all of husband's clothing is still here. I walk into the master bathroom where there is all the toothbrushes and medication.

I walk back out and downstairs to the team where they have all finished their own search.

"Why thing?" Gibbs asks us.

"Cars are still here," Tony informs him calmly.

"None of the neighbours know they had left or where they would have gone," Ziva reports to him.

"All the toothbrushes, clothing and medicine are in the bathrooms upstairs. But half the wife's clothing is gone and all her jewellery. I found this," I inform Gibbs while holding up the teddy bear.

"What type of medicine?" Gibbs asks me.

"Heart medicine for the husband, some um, medicine for, um… mental heath problems, the violent type," I inform them. I continue to ask, "Has anyone found the gun safe yet?"

"No," the other three answers me while even Gibbs looks at me in confusion.

"There is apparently a gun safe somewhere in this house… with lots of guns in it… all registered," I inform Gibbs.

"Find the safe," Gibbs orders us making us all look everywhere. Behind every painting and under all the tables. I walk back into the launder to see that the washing machine moved away from the wall it was in when Ziva and I came through this room.

"Jethro," I call out while pulling out my gun and looking around the room. I slowly walk towards the washing machine slowly while keeping my gun drawn. I almost reach the washing machine when I am hit over the back of the head with something. I fall forwards and hit my head on the washing machine. I feel dizzy but I attempt to push myself up. I use the washing machine to pull myself up and turn around while pointing the gun behind me only to aim it at Gibbs as he comes through the door.

"Woah, calm down," Gibbs orders me as I lower the gun down. He points around for everyone to search while walking over to me as he holsters his gun. I look around the room but the person who hit me is gone and took what they hit me with, with them. He grabs my head while looking at my forehead.

"I'm fine. I hit my head on the washing machine after getting hit on the back of my head," I inform him.

"Are you alright?" Gibbs asks me softly while feeling the back of my head softly.

"I'm fine… just surprised," I mumble as I step away from him to see a little bit of blood on his glove. There is blood also on the washing machine and floor.

"This wasn't here when we came through," Ziva comments while pointing to the washing machine that is sitting out from the wall enough for a person to get behind it.

"That's why I called you," I inform Gibbs while walking over to it with Gibbs and then I slip behind it carefully and look down to see an empty gun safe.

"Tony, shoot and sketch. McGee prints and evidence," Gibbs orders them before turning to Ziva and ordering her, "We're heading back to the squad room… put a BOLO out on our suspect."

"On it boss," We all respond to him as we hear a loud bang and screech making us react by drawing our gun and running out through the garage because there is a door from the laundry. We see that one of the cars is gone, we continue to run out front to see that Gibbs car has been hit and push enough for someone to get away… but there is no cars in the in sight.

"Well, that's not good," I comment while looking at the destroyed car.

"Ya think?" Gibbs asks me as we stare at the car… who drives into a federal car?

…

"Anything?" Gibbs asks us as he walks into the squad room late tonight after a long day of looking for our squad room. I have a band-aid on my forehead and a bump on the back of my head but besides that I am find.

"No hits on the BOLO," Ziva reports while hitting her computer.

"No one has brought any of the meds from the house," Tony reports.

"The kids didn't go to school today, mum rang in saying that they had a death in the family and wouldn't be in for a while… they didn't ask any questions," I inform them.

"So we don't have anything?" Gibbs yells at us.

"Nothing since this morning," I answer him while looking at Tony for help.

"Where is McGee?"

"Looking over the over the technology of the older girl. Hoping to find something useful," Tony reports to him.

"Find me then… now," Gibbs yells at us before storming off.

"I liked it better when it was just us two," Tony complains.

"Talks small," I inform him.

…

"What do you have, Abs?" Gibbs asks her as we walk into the lab in the hour hours of the morning after a long night of nothing coming up. McGee is visible working in Abby's back office but we don't pay him any action because we're here to see Abby, not a nerd.

"Nothing and everything," Abby answers him with a grin.

"What have you been reading?" I ask her because she is being weird, I mean, weirder then normal for her.

"Abby," Gibbs states making me pout, I want to know.

"That the teddy bear was the fibres I found in the car," Abby informs us.

"IS that all?"

"The only prints on the gun safe belongs to the wife," Abby informs us. She continues, "I ran the DNA of the toothbrushes and all of then is the half-sister of Kelly."

"Anything else?" Gibbs asks her.

"The car that hit your car is a SUV, red in colour with standard wheels on it without any identifying marks… it will be missing paint and have rear end damage," Abby informs us.

"So that's something to add to the BOLO," I comment as I write it down.

"Anything else?" Gibbs asks her.

"Yeah, the splinter Ducky pulled out of Alice's head is a treated ash wood. This is used in hammers, axes, spades, hockey sticks, oars. So that doesn't narrow it down at all," Abby informs us.

"I can says it was hard," I complain with a pout making her smile at me.

"That's why it is one of the most used woods for these items because of its hardness," Abby informs us.

"Smart and a bad idea at the same time because people will use it as a weapon, and not for it's designed reason," I comment as I lean on Gibbs side slightly.

"Yeah."

"But that's humans, if we can use something like a weapon or pain we will before it's used for good," I complains.

"Thanks, Abs," Gibbs says to her with a grin as he kisses her cheek before leaving with me.

…

"Boss, I found something," McGee informs us while walking into the squad room at lunch time. No one has gone home because Gibbs doesn't want anything to happen to his team and we don't know where this mad suspect is and what they are going to do with the gun.

"What is it, McGee?" Gibbs demands of him while looking up from his desk to the geeks eyes.

"Mary's computer. I finally got into it and it has a diary," McGee informs us.

"What does it say?" I ask him as I get up and walk closure, this has to lead us somewhere right?

"I don't know. I haven't read it yet."

"WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO US THEN, MCGEE?" Gibbs demands of him angrily while standing up and glaring into McGee's eyes.

"Well… um… you see… that… um," McGee stutters out.

"WELL WHAT?"

"It's still being updated. Hourly," McGee informs us quickly.

"Can you track the updates?" I ask him quickly.

"I am working on it," McGee informs us.

"Get me a location. Alice, read the dairy," Gibbs orders us making me groan. Why do I always have to read the dairies? Gibbs continues, "Tony look into the BOLO and the bank accounts of the suspects. Ziva, find where who they might be with… I want to know where they are… NOW."

"On it, boss," we all call out while moving to our respective jobs.

"Here you go," McGee mumbles while handing me a USB with the dairy on it.

"Thanks," I mumble while plugging the USB into my computer and open it. I begin to read the latest diary which has only twenty chapter but that is still a lot to read.

"No sightings of them or the car," Tony informs us while typing at his computer.

…

"Anything?" Gibbs asks while walking into the squad room at night.

"Nothing," I complain as I lean back in my chair. This might only have twenty chapter but each chapter is easily been five or six hundred pages.

"There has been no use of their cards but for yesterday morning they withdraw thirty thousand dollars out of their cards," Tony reports to him.

"No one in there family has seen or heard from them since they got together. No one wanted them to get married and said that if they didn't, they aren't family," Ziva reports.

"The updates are coming have stopped before I could get a trace. No one in her phone contact list has heard from her in days," McGee reports.

"SO we have nothing?" I ask them in disappointment.

"We have nothing," Tony agrees with me.

"What's in the dairy?" Gibbs asks me.

"Normal girl things. She likes a boy in her class, doesn't like a teacher, what parties she wants to go to, what bands she likes, what bands she has been to, is going to. But this is something, the last post wasn't finished," I inform them.

"What do you know it wasn't finished?" Gibbs asks me.

"The very last thing she wrote was, 'I hope that mum d…' that's it. And that is all that's in chapter twenty. It's like something forcefully stopped her writing. But besides that there is nothing. She didn't write what she was seeing, hearing, smelling, nothing," I inform them while leaning further back in my chair.

"Nothing at all?" Tony whines at me.

"Well, besides the fact that it wasn't Mary writing. No," I inform them.

"How do you know it wasn't her?" Ziva asks me.

"Easy," I inform her while standing up and informing them, "The writing is wrong. Mary wrote all in first person while these last through chapters was swooping between first and third person."

"That's it?" Shepard demands of me from where she was listening in from the stairs.

"No. but whoever is writing these last few chapters has to many spelling mistakes, grammar and used the simplest wording while Mary used the biggest and most complicated words to get the point across. The person pretending to be Mary is not as educated," I inform Shepard calmly.

"Why would someone pretend to be a teenager in her own diary?"

"Because it's not a diary, it's a public writing… anyone can read it and if she is five minutes late she is being bombarded with messages asking if she is okay… the police was even called once when she had her technologies taken away from her because of getting bad grades," I inform her calmly while using the remote for the plasma to put the police report onto the plasma between McGee and Tony's desk. I continue while changing the phot to the membership of the dairy site, "Everyone on this site pays a yearly fee. You can dictated who sees your post and Mary has hers set to people between the age of ten and twenty-nine. No sexual offenders, no men. You can't change your age on this sight and can't lie because you need a birth certificated to register to use the site and they take at lest a month to make sure you are who you say you are."

"That's a lot of security," Gibbs comments.

"Yes. The site was made by a victim of online sexual assault… she wanted somewhere that someone can talk to another person safely… and know they are only talking to someone within there age group and who they want to," I inform Gibbs while opening the information page of the site, which tells you all about the site and it's owner.

"IS there anything else?"

"I talked to the site creator online and she promised me that if Mary comes back online she will locate the location of her and call me straight away. She has some program that tells her who is online when and from where… they agree to that when they sign up in case someone is stalking someone else without their knowledge, and if you are caught stalking or using someone else's account, you are kicked and banned," I inform them.

…

I arrive at a motel where the suspects' car was seen last. Gibbs and I walk into the office of the motel while the team looks around for the car and suspects.

"Hello, handsome," A older lady greets Gibbs as we walk into the office together.

"Hello, ma'am," Gibbs greets her as we walk up to the desk.

"What can I do for you?" she flirts with MY man.

"We were hoping you had a working security camera that will show us who has used this hotel this week," I inform her angrily as I hide my glare to the best of my ability.

"No cameras. The people that come here don't want people to know that they come here," she informs me without looking away from Gibbs who she is looking up and down like a piece of meat.

"Do you remember these people?" Gibbs asks her while showing her a photo of the suspects family that he took from the house after they destroyed our car.

"No… but everyone begins to look alike when you do my job," she informs Gibbs while running her finger down his chest without even looking at the photo making me angrier.

"How do you know then if someone isn't allowed into the building?" I demand of her while glaring because no one is allowed to flirt with Gibbs but for me.

"Everyone is allowed," She informs me without even looking at me.

"Can I search the motel?" Gibbs asks her calmly as I grip my hands into tight little fist making my nails dig into my palms but I don't care.

"No without a warrant," she informs him with a grin.

"Why do we need a warrant? All we are doing is looking," I comment.

"We'll get one," Gibbs promise her before placing his hand on my lower back and leading me out of the building because we aren't getting any answers at the moment. He leads me out into the sun and then around the back where the team is working the car that has been burnt out and the fireman have put the fire out but I don't think we're going to get any evidence from this.

"What do you have?" I ask Ziva as she looks in the front of the car.

"Nothing, this is flamed out," Ziva answers me.

"Burnt out," Tony corrects her as he looks around the car for anything because the ground is only dirt and hopefully we can get prints or something.

"What do we have?" Gibbs demands of us.

"No one saw anything," McGee informs us.

"What's missing?" I sign to Gibbs as I look around the crime scene.

"I know… don't say anything," Gibbs signs back to me as he looks around the crime scene himself.

"No one knows who is signed into this motel or who is signed out. So that's out," I comment.

"No one is going to talk to us," Gibbs adds.

"So we have nothing?" Ziva complains while standing up from the front of the car.

"So, we have the car… and nothing else," I inform him as I walk around the car near to Ziva.

"Pop the boot," Gibbs orders us making me reach in and pull the leaver to pop the boot of the car. Gibbs pulls the boot open as he shines his torch into the boot, only to see a charred box sitting in the middle boot.

"What do you think is in it?" Tony asks us as he takes a photo of the box in the boot of the car.

"Only one way to find out," I inform him as I walk back towards the boot. I reach into my pocket and pull out my knife as I reach the boot. I step between Gibbs and the car as I reach for the box. Tony photos me as I pull the box towards me and then cut the tape on it. I remove the lid off of the box to see it is full of family photos. Photos of Mary, Kelly and Gary. I look at everyone as I pull out a white blanket with blood on it, a baby's toy, a birth certificated, wedding rings, death certificated, it's like someone was trying to remove proof that they ever lived.

"That's not good," Tony comments as I bag everything.

"Tony, get the car and evidence back to Abby," Gibbs orders him. He continues, "Ziva, McGee talk to everyone in the hotel."

"Yes, boss," they all answer him as he begins to walk away. I smirk at them as I follow him out of this shit show, I don't want to talk to people who don't trust us, and I don't want to travel with the car.

…

"What do we have?" Gibbs ask the team as he walks into the squad room with two coffees.

"Nothing. No one saw anything," McGee informs him from his desk and we're not really surprised.

"Abby's going over the car," Tony informs him.

"No street camera saw the car coming or the suspect going," I inform Gibbs as he hands me a coffee.

"SO we have nothing?" Gibbs asks us as Abby bounce into the squad room.

"No, you have nothing. I have something," Abby informs Gibbs with a grin.

"What do you have?"

"I was going over the car and found a tracker on the bumper," Abby informs us while showing us a photo on the back of the car on the plasma screen above my desk.

"Who put it there?" I ask her as I stand up from my desk and walk over to lean against Gibbs desk to see the photo.

"Don't know but I can use it to track where the car has been," Abby informs us.

"Where have they been?" Gibbs demands of her kindly.

"Here," Abby informs us while showing us where the car has been parked since it hit our car.

"Grab your gear," Gibbs orders us making us rush to our desk to grab our guns. He turns to Abby and presses a kiss to her cheek before saying, "Good job, Abby."

"Thanks," I add while putting my gun onto my belt. We all rush out of the squad room.

…

"Okay. Stay close," Gibbs orders us as we grab gun out of our holsters as we get out of the car. We slowly walk towards the only building on the lot that the car has been sitting on. Gibbs arrives at the door first and stand to the left of the only caravan door. I move to the left with Gibbs as Tony, Ziva and McGee stand to the right of the car.

Gibbs holds up his index finger, then his next finger, and finally one more finger before opening trying the door handle but it's locked. Gibbs steps out and kicks the door in before rushing in. Tony follows him in next, followed by me and then Ziva and McGee.

"Mrs Parker, don't move," Gibbs orders her as we level our guns on her.

"What? I'm innocent," May exclaims while raising her gun.

"Where's your family?" I demand of her as I continue to hold my aim on her.

"Alice, Ziva, look around," Gibbs orders us while moving closure to May.

"On it, boss," Ziva responds as we move around the room and into the bedroom. We search the bedroom and cupboard but they are both empty.

"IT's empty," I informs Gibbs as we walk back into the room with May who is handcuffed and sitting on the couch.

"Where is your family?" Gibbs demands of her but she refuses to answer us. Gibbs orders Tony, "Tony read her right. Ziva, McGee, Alice process the case."

"May Parker you are under arrest for the murder of your sister, Mary Parker and her daughter, Kelly Parker. Anything you say can be used against you in the court of law," Tony resights while leading May to the car.

"What are we looking for?" Ziva asks Gibbs.

"Her family," Gibbs answers her angrily.

…

"Where's your family, Mrs Parker?" I ask May as I walk into the integration room that she is being held in for the last twelve hours as we looked for them. She just looks at me making me sign before continuing, "Why did you kill your sister?"

"Why are you intent on investigating my sister's murder? It was years ago… no one cares anymore," May asks me coldly.

"I care… I am sure that her baby would care too," I inform her as I open the old case file.

"What baby?" May demands of me.

"The one that was in the car, the day you murdered her… the one that Gary didn't know was delivered," I inform her calmly.

"What baby?" May demands of me angrily.

"The one that you stole and raised as your own," I inform her while placing a photo of Mary that I took from her home.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Our forensic scientist compared this toy to the one in the car… it proves that you took the baby's toy and baby after murdering Kelly and Mary."

"I did no such thing," May exclaims angrily.

"After all these years, there is still blood from the two victims on the teddy," I inform her calmly. She stares at me in surprise.

"That's impossible," May screams at me while slamming her hands onto the table.

"You know what I think?" I ask her calmly.

"No. What?" May asks me angrily.

"I think you killed your sister because you wanted her husband all to yourself and she wasn't going to give him up… not even when she proved to her that he was fucking you in her bed behind her back… you took what you always wanted," I inform her calmly.

"Right," Mary exclaims in annoyance at my theory.

"You thought when you carried Kelly for them that Gary would fall in love with you and leave Mary before the child was born but he didn't. He stood by his wife, and when Kelly was born, they grew closure with the love for they only child," I inform her calmly.

"You think you're so smart."

"Then you fell pregnant with Mary, you where convinced that you could and would get Gary but Gary convinces Mary that the baby was hers and he paid for the doctor to plant a fertile egg into you to carry a second child for them… and you grew to hate how she had everything you wanted," I inform her calmly.

"Cute theory, kid but you don't know nothing," May informs me condescendingly.

"I know that when I talked to your friends, they all told me about how you were pregnant but when the child was born, Mary suddenly also had a baby. Twice. We found your car you burnt but the box didn't burn, sorry," I inform her as he looks at me in fear. I continue, "DO you remember what was in it?" I lay out photos of everything in the box, including the evidences of her carrying Kelly and the delivery of Mary.

"DO you want to confess now?" I ask her with a smirk.

"That doesn't prove I murdered Mary and Kelly," May exclaims while looking at a photo of her holding Kelly in the hospital just after she was delivered.

"No of course not. But surrogacy is illegal," I remind her calmly.

"So arrest me," May taunts me.

"But we also have proof that you murdered Mary and Kelly," I inform her.

"What evidence?"

"We found the gun, with your prints on it. Gary informed us that you never touched the gun."

"Yeah, but that is he's word against mine," May informs me cockily.

"Yeah, but your prints are the only prints," I inform her. I continue, "And you got a slide-bite… you held the gun wrong and we found the blood." I show her a photo of the prints and blood.

"So?"

"I talked your friends and they told me that Mary had a baby and after she died you had a baby two days later… where did you hid the baby for those two days?" I ask her calmly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Mary is your child but she was at the murder scene… we found her blood on the door where you bumped her head and she bleed. She is Mary's final child and you hate that. That's why you took her toys and gave them to your baby girl… you only liked the girl children, you can't stand the boys. Which why the girl has toys and a messy room while your boys room look like a prison cell," I profile her family life.

"That doesn't prove anything," May exclaims.

"You hated your sister, so you killed her. You killed Kelly because she would remember that Mary is her real mother. But you took the baby because she would love you without knowing she was at her mothers murder. You wanted her husband and you tricked him into marrying you by threatening to tell everyone that Mary is his child, so he married you. You had four more children that are boys and you didn't even take any photos of them or when you did, you take photos of them, they are dressed as a girl. You didn't buy them any toys or new clothing but when you finally had your own girl, you treated her as an angel. You brought her anything she wanted, clothing, toys, school. You took every photo you could of her. Now that Mary's case is reopens you are willing to kill the boys, Mary and even Gary but the girl is safe," I inform her calmly making her look at me in disbelief.

"You're so sure of yourself."

"I know I am correct… you have your family held hostage somewhere, probably the same place you hid Mary, twenty-eight years ago," I inform him calmly. I continue, "You're a psychopath and has been diagnosed with that years ago… I don't think you told Gary about that, you pretended to feel love for the children you wished for the moment to come so that you can kill them and get away with it again."

"IS that so?"

"Where is your family?" I ask her.

"Why don't you tell me?"

"We will find them and they will testify against you. I am asking you to help make this easier on yourself."

"All you have is a theory."

"No, all I have is evidence. Fingerprints in Mary's car and on the gun. I have a witness saying that you left school for half the day on at the time of the murder. I have fibres to a teddy in your house with blood on it. I have photos of Mary that you tried to destroy in your own car that you lit on fire… I have witness of you lighting the car on fire. I have proof that you drove your car into our car at your house after hitting me over the head. The only thing I don't have at the moment is your family say," I inform her calmly.

"The little bitch deserved it… if she only left Gary like she promised me, she would still be here. But no, she had to marry him. Then she had the balls to come and ask me to carry her child… she promised to leave him so I could marry my soul mate. God sent him to me, not her," May exclaims while slamming her hands into the table again.

"Where is your family?" I demand of her.

"They aren't my family… Gary said if Mary was still here, he would still be with her… after all this time, he would still rather be with that bitch who couldn't even give him an heir… I have him children like he wanted but he still wanted that bitch… HE ONLY MARRIED _ME_ SO THAT I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT MARY… MARY… NOT BECAUSE HE LOVED ME… HE SAID HE LOVED ME BUT HE LIED."

"May, sit back down," I order her as she stands up in her anger. I wait until she sits back down before continuing, "Where is your family?"

"What does it matter? They don't love me."

"It's only a matter of time until we find them… and if something happens to them, I will personally make sure that you get the death penalty and I will be the last face you see," I promise him calmly.

"What do I get if I tell you?" May demands of me.

"I'll talk to the prosecutor," I inform her.

"That all?"

"You murdered two people for no reason… your lucky you are getting that."

"They are at rocky pound. It's a beach that has lots of shells. There is a cave with a burnt out car in front of it. They are in there," May informs me making me get up and turn to leave. She calls out, "What about me?"

"I'll talk to the prosecutor," I inform her before leaving without another word.

…

"Mr Parker?" I call out as we found the cave she was telling us about.

"NCIS," Gibbs calls out as we walk into the dark cave. We all have our guns out and are holding our lights in our left hands on top of the gun. We shine the torch around the room as we search for this family.

"Mr Parker?" Ziva calls out as we walk further into the cave to see it splits off into two paths. Gibbs points at Tony and Ziva then down the first path. He then signs for McGee and me to follow Gibbs into the second path. We quietly walk down the path while searching for the family. We come to a blind corner making Gibbs sign for us to stay close and over his six. He steps around the corner as we lean on it for the cover and point our guns around the corner. Aim our guns around the corner only to see the family laying in a pile.

"Mr Parker," I call as I walk closure with Gibbs, there is no other exist to this round part of the cave. I holster my gun as I walk over to the family and kneel down on the ground while shaking the mans shoulder. I pull him towards me, therefore turning him over, showing that he has thirteen bullets in his front.

"Are you alright?" Gibbs asks the little boy hiding under his father's body.

"Yes, sir," the little boy answers him.

"Where's the rest of your siblings?" I ask him as I put pressure on the bullet wounds of Mr Parker.

"I don't know… mum took them," the boy informs us.

"Let's get you out of here," Gibbs says to the boy while picking him up.

"I got him ma'am," the ambulance officer informs me as he arrives in the room. McGee had steps out to get the officer which we bought them with us in case May hurt her own family.

"Boss, we have the kids," Tony's voices comes through our radio.

"We have, Mr Parker and one of the boys," I inform Tony as we walk towards them. I run back down the path and take a turn down the path Tony and Ziva took. I arrive in a second dead-end to see the children all huddled around Mary. She is holding the boys while the girl sits off to the side with a blanked and glaring at her family.

"She won't let us near them," Ziva informs me as I arrive.

"Mary? Your name is Mary, isn't it?" I ask the girl that is protecting her family the way her mother should have.

"How do you know my name?" Mary demands of me.

"I was in your home," I inform her. I continue, "I work for NCIS. That stands for Naval criminal investigate service." She continues to stare at me so I sit down while continuing, "We're not going to hurt you or your bothers."

"Their not my bothers," Mary snaps at me.

"I'm sorry?" I ask her in confusion.

"They're my babies," Mary informs me tightly.

"Your there mother?" I ask her in surprise. I blink for a moment before continuing, "Their very beautiful…"

"Mum said if anyone found out that they would be taken from me."

"No one's going to take your children from you… I promise," I inform her while slowly moving closure to her.

"Stay back," Mary exclaims.

"What did May do to you, baby?" I ask her softly.

"She didn't do nothing."

"Mary, your babies need medical attention," I inform her.

"Your not taking them from me."

"We aren't taking them from you. You can stay with them the hold time," I promise her. she continues to stare at me but finally stands up and get the boys to stand up. She leads them out of the cave while leaving the girl, making me walk over to her and pick her up and taking her out of the cave to get checked over.

…

"What are you doing?" I ask Gibbs as I walk down into the basement to see him sitting under his boat while drinking bourbon. I am wearing his NIS sweatshirt and sweatpants.

"Thinking," Gibbs answers me as I walk over to him and sit beside him.

"About?" I ask him as I lean on his shoulder softly.

"About how someone can become so messed up that they think murder is their only way to love," Gibbs admits to me.

"She was a messed up girl," I comment while snuggling into his side.

"Why where you looking for me?"

"The hospital called. Gary's going to make it… Mary is the mother of the two boys but May is the mother of the girl… that's why she didn't like the boys."

"They're going to be okay," Gibbs mumbles.

"Yep… but are you going to be okay?"

"I'm always okay."

"Jethro, I know you… are you going to be okay?"

"I miss them," Gibbs mumbles.

"I know… and I wish I could bring them back for you but that's not possible, so you just have to let them live on in your head," I comment while pulling him into a side hug.

"You're not upset that I wish they where here still? That I still had them?" Gibbs asks me in surprise and disbelief.

"I wish that family doesn't have to die but we cant change the past, so we have to move on…"


	15. Requiem

**_I apologise for not updating in so long. I will try to be better but I make no promises._**

 ** _I hope this chapter was worth the wait but I am not too sure it is._**

 ** _Merry late Christmas and happy new year_**

 ** _I hope this year is better for everyone then last._**

 ** _Thank you to everyone who messaged me to make sure I was okay_**

Tony and I are running as fast as we can through a warehouse while panting for air because we have been running for a long time. There are two men at the doorway and Tony shoots the one of the left without stopping running while I shoot the one of the right. Tony throughs his gun onto the ground before jumping into he river. I come to a stop at the edge of the land waiting to help Tony get out of the water and watching to make sure there isn't anymore men. I walk around onto a pontoon to be closure to where I think Tony is going to resurface. Tony breaks the surface of the water with a girl wearing a green shirt. He swims over to the edge while dragging her.

"Here," I call out while grabbing her arms and dragging her body onto the pontoon I am standing on.

"Got her?" Tony asks me.

"Yes," I answer him while getting down beside her and checking is she is breathing but she's not. I begin CPR as Tony dives back under the water for a second time. I begin to give compressions to her chest while counting out load, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine."

"Alice," Tony calls out while breaking the surface of the water again but with Gibbs this time. I move from the girl and grab Gibbs by the arms. I pull him onto the pontoon beside the girl and then help Tony get onto the pontoon before returning to giving the girl CPR. Tony can take care of Gibbs, I have to get her to breathe again. Behind me I hear Tony pant for air as he begins to give Gibbs CPR.

"Don't do this to me, boss," Tony complains. He continues to mumble, "Come on, don't do this to me." I lean down and give the girl two breaths of air before returning to the compressions on her chest. "Don't make me kiss you, boss," Tony complains. "Come on, boss! Come on!" Tony yells while attempting to start Gibbs heart again.

I look back at Tony and Gibbs while continuing to do CPR, how long does it take an ambulance to arrive? We need one know, I can't loss Gibbs too.

…

Twenty-four hours earlier.

"No," Gibbs states as we step out of the elevator with Abby following us where her phone in her hand. I am wearing a white shirt with black tight jeans and a pair of low heeled boots that come up to my knees. Gibbs is wearing a green polo over his white undershirt and a brown jacket while carrying his coffee like normal.

"Please, please, please, Gibbs," Abby begs him as she follows him around.

"No," Gibbs answers her before she even finishes begging.

"Ok, I'll never ask you for anything again, ever…"

"Abby," Gibbs cuts her off as we walk towards the squad room.

"I promise," Abby finishes while talking over him.

"Come on, ever?" Gibbs asks her while stopping walking and turning towards her.

"Well, okay, maybe not ever, but I won't ask for anything else for at least like a week," Abby corrects herself making me laugh at her making him think about it while half smiling.

"Sure. Where and when?" Gibbs asks her as he turns and walks over to his desk. Gibbs turns back to her while giving her a closed mouth smile.

"Boss," Gibbs calls out making Gibbs loose the smile while looking at him. I turn to look at him to because he sounds out of breath. Abby takes a photo of Gibbs ear as McGee informs him, "There is a young women here waiting to see you. I sent her to the lounge."

"Name?" Gibbs demands of McGee while Abby huffs in annoyance.

"Maddie Tyler?"

"Do we know what about?" I ask McGee while smiling at Abby.

"Twenty-two, twenty-three," McGee guesses her age but Gibbs gives him the look making him change it too, "Sorry. Personal. She wouldn't say."

"Uh, Gibbs," Abby calls after him as he begins to walk away and she follows him. He turns around and grins at her so that she can take the photo before walking away. She walks back to us while continuing, "It's for my cell phone, so that when Gibbs calls, his face will appear, and I'll know it's him. See?"

"Nice… print," McGee informs her making her look at the photo that is a human shaped smug of nothing making me laugh at it. She can't catch a break today.

.

Gibbs pov

.

"Hi," Maddie, a young blonde lady, greets me as I walk around the corner into the dinning/lounge room of NCIS.

"Special Agent Gibbs," I interduce myself as I walk over to the table she is sitting at and stand behind one of the chairs without offering her a hand to shake.

"I know. I… I mean, I remember. But you… probably don't. I'm… Maddie… Maddie Tyler," Maddie interduces herself nervously while offering her hand that I shake. She continues to ramble in a nervous way as I look the young lady over and try to remember where she knows me from, "It's been a long time. I used to come over to your house… I was Kelly's best friend… or, I mean, at least I remember myself being her best friend… I like to think she thought so, too." I look at the young lady in front of me and try to picture her as the little girl that my baby used to play with, but I can't do that… I am also trying not to be flooded with the memories I am trying to buries as not to hurt myself anymore… I miss my baby girl and I would do anything to have her back… I just don't know why her best friend is standing in front of me.

"You lived on base?" I ask her softly, while trying not to tear up like she has.

"Marine brat. My dad was an officer," she informs me making me smile at the memory of her dad.

"I remember. Good man," I inform here while sitting down on one of the chairs making her retake her own chair again.

"He retired. Move back to Oakland. Died a couple years ago," she informs me. There is a silence before she continues, "I'm finishing my degree at Georgetown. Science." I give her a half smile while waiting for her to tell me why she is here, and I don't think it is to talk about Kelly or her dad. She continues when she sees my face, I guess you're wondering… why I'm here." She begins to play with her bracelet while continuing, "This is going to sound so stupid… I can't believe, I need some help, and you're the only person I know who…"

"Problems?" I ask her to cut to the chase.

"Guy problems," She informs me making me look down. I'm not too sure if I can help with that. She continue to inform me, "Crazy guy problems. I went on a couple of dates with him, about eighteen months ago. He's a marine. Went to Iraq. Just got back a week ago. He came to see me, you know, wanted to get things started again. But I mean, there was… there was nothing to start because nothing had ever gotten started. I tried to explain that, but, uh, he kept insisting. He was desperate to move in with me, and, when I said no, it wasn't what he wanted to hear."

"He stalking you?" I ask her while leading slightly on the table… I couldn't protect my little girl but I am going to protect her friend until my dying breath. She nodes making me add, "Did you report him to the police?"

"They said there's nothing they can do. It's only been a week."

"He threaten you?" I ask her making her node at me. I ask my next question and praying she won't answer it with a yes, "He hurt you?"

"I don't think he meant to," She informs me while pulling up her long sleeve shirt to show me a yellow bruise on her arm. She continues, "He just kind of grabbed me, but… he's really freaking me out."

"What's this marine's name?" I ask her. I am going to pay him a visit and make sure he doesn't hurt this little girl again.

"Rudi Haas."

"Where would I find him?"

"Outside my house."

…

.

Alice pov

.

"Cute!" Abby exclaims while taking a photo of McGee sitting on Ziva's desk. She moves from McGee to the smiling Ziva who stops smiling but gives the camera a serious, sexy look as Abby takes the photo. "Pretty!" Abby exclaims. Abby moves onto tony who pulls a face as she takes the photo meaning that his mouth is open in the photo and she exclaims while showing him the photo, "Tony!"

"That's the best yet."

"Boss!" McGee warns us making everyone run back to their desk as Abby takes a photo of a half smiling Gibbs and Maddie.

"I didn't know you were," Abby mumbles before saying, "Sorry, Gibbs." They walk over to the elevator where Shepard stops him and I know that won't end well so I quickly walk over to the slut.

"Agent Gibbs, we need to talk about the latest East African threat assessments," Shepard informs him before giving Maddie a once over. I step up into her personal space.

"Think wisely on your next words, because I have know problem turning your life into a hell," I whisper into her ear as she gives Maddie a dirty look. The girl looks scared out of her mind and I am not letting Shepard scare her more.

"When you got a moment," Shepard adds quickly.

"Now, walk away from the elevator," I add before grabbing her arm and dragging her away from the elevator… if anyone should be giving the scared girl a dirty look, it should be me, his girlfriend and not some slut who broke his heart. Once the elevator door is shut and descending I walk back over to the squad room where Abby is programming the photos into the correct contacts.

"Know her?" Ziva asks the team as I enter the squad room and walk over to my desk without saying a word.

"Wish I could say I did," Tony comments making me pull a face before turning to face them as I sit at my desk.

"Maddie Tyler," Abby informs them.

"Who is?" Ziva asks her in confusion.

"Ask McGee," Abby answers her while redirecting the question.

"Said it was personal," McGee informs them.

"New girlfriend?" Ziva guesses.

"Hey," I exclaims while looking at them, they couldn't really thing Gibbs and I have broken up and he got a new girlfriend.

"Sorry, Alice," Ziva says while looking at me before adding, "It's the first thing that came to mind.

"Not a redhead," Tony reminds her as Abby gives me a sorry look.

"Niece?" Ziva guess again as McGee begins to type at his computer.

"Nice. Mc-Geek called Mc-Google, her name," Tony says while kneeling behind McGee's desk.

"Oh, I can do you one better. Myspace," McGee informs us making them all get up and walk over behind the geeks desk, I attempt to pretend I am not interested but after a moment I also get up and walk over… I am just including myself in the team activity of snooping and I am not jealous or worried about my relationship at all… just making sure they aren't doing anything to get themselves throw in jail or fired… that totally it… I am going to married Gibbs, so there is no reason for my to be jealous of a blonde lady… that's the truth and all I am going to say.

"Well, she has an eclectic taste in music. Everything from yo-yo ma to Metallica," Abby comments as we look at the myspace page of the blonde lady.

"Lots of friends, college kids mainly," McGee comments while looking through her friend list on her feed.

"And one from her childhood," Ziva comments before reading from under a photo of a girl I have seen a lot at Gibbs' house. Kelly Gibbs, "'My first and still my best friend, Kelly.

Forever in my memory.'"

"Gibbs' daughter was named Kelly," Abby reminds us.

"One and the same," McGee agrees with her.

"Mystery solved," Tony mumbles but if the mystery was solved, why was she here to see Gibbs? And why did he leave with her?

…

Gibbs pov

.

I pull up outside of Maddie's house and get out of the car. I look around while walk around until I am on the sidewalk with her. She looks really scared while looking around the street.

"That's his car," Maddie informs me while nodding her head to a dark car on the road with the Washington, DC numberplate 'NG B473.' I turn and lead her towards her house that has an open door.

"Hey, Madds, I was just looking for you, babe," Rudi says while jogging out of her house and down the steps to us. When he reaches us, he goes to touch her face and she physically steps back and I put my arm between them to protect her. He grabs my arm and attempts to remove it from between them by breaking it while exclaiming, "Hey!"

"Look, Hey!" I exclaim at the same time. I quickly manage to overpower him and turn him around so that I am holding both arms behind his back so that I can cuff him for assaulting me and then for stalking Maddie.

"Who are you?" Rudi demands of me. He then demands of her, "This your old man?!"

"She does not want to see you," I whisper into his ear while pulling his arm up his back higher, hurting him and making it so that he can't escape my hold until I am good and ready. I continue to inform him, "It means you're not going to come back. You're not going to call her. You're not going to drive down her street." He continues to struggle in my hold making me ask him, "Do I need to say it again?"

"No," he answers me. I release him and he looks at Maddie for a moment before walking away when she wont even look at him. I stand behind her and wait until she looks at me before smiling and pointing my head to her house in a sign to go inside know. Once she turns and behind to walk inside I stop smiling and watch that this prick leaves know before I have to do something else.

…

"Okay. It's around here somewhere," Maddie comments while looking under her bed in her messy bedroom as I watch her and sip coffee at the table. She asks me, "Do you want some more coffee?"

"Nope. Fine," I answer her while forcing myself to swallow the disgusting coffee she gave me. This coffee is worse then Alice's cooking and she can't cook, only back cookies and make coffee. How can this girl not know how to make good coffee? Did her father not teach her anything? I am embarrassed for her. I'll have to teach her the proper way to make good coffee.

"As soon as I graduate, I am moving back to Oakland," Maddie informs me while walking into the living room and looking around the room. She comments while moving a magazine and picks up a photo album, "This place is such a pig sty. There is this really great animal hospital there. They offered ne a job in the lab. It's just a general practice. Eventually, I have plan to specialize in horses. Kelly and I were both crazy about horses." She continues to talk while looking through the photo album. I remember them both always talking about horses and how they want to be vets when they grow up. It's nice to know that Maddie hasn't changed a bit in her ambitions in life. She shows me the photo while saying, "Here it is. Can't remember who took that photo."

I take the book from here while looking at it. Jelly is on the left with brads in her hair while Maddie is sitting on the right with her arm is around Kelly. They are both laughing at something but I don't know what. I inform her with a tight lip smile, "I did. I never did find out what was so funny."

"She never told you?" Maddie asks me as I put the book down. I shake my head at her making her whisper, "Sorry."

"I shipped out to Iraq that month. They followed me all the way to Pendleton. Last time I saw them," I inform her while remember the day I was leaving. How Kelly begged me to stay but I couldn't… I wish that I stayed, more then anything in life… but I didn't and know they are dead.

"It was a time capsule. We've filled this toy suitcase with all of our… treasures. Kelly's mostly, and… buried it in your backyard. We were sitting on it," Maddie informs me making me laugh at them. She looks down for a moment before informing me, "I never stopped crying." I look away from her for a moment so that I don't start crying right know. She continues, "Still think about her, after all these years. Wonder what she'd be like."

"Like you," I inform her she continues to look at me.

"Here, you should. You should have this," Maddie exclaims while trying to hand me the photo.

"No. no, that's your memory," I exclaims while stopping her from giving me the photo.

"Our memory," She corrects me while handing me the photo.

"I should be going. Thanks for the coffee," I say while pocketing the photo and turning to leave without drinking more then a sip of the bad coffee.

"That back?" She asks me while standing up. She continues, "I really can't thank you enough."

"You got my number. He comes back… call me," I inform her before opening the door. I step out before turning around and pointing to the deadbolt on the door while saying, "And keep this locked."

I half jog outside to see a car packed behind mine with Rudi sitting in it talking on the phone. I begin to walk towards the car but he hangs up the phone and drives off quickly.

….

"Marine Sergeant Rudi M. Haas. Works in logistics, currently on thirty-day leave after returning from Iraq eight days ago," McGee reports to me in the squad room while putting up his photo up on the plasma between his and Tony's desk. Alice is standing with me while everyone else is at their desk.

"Service record?" I ask him.

"Clean."

"Eight years in," Alice reads out.

"Prior to that, grew up in Chicago," McGee informs us.

"State and local police. See if he's got a record," I order him as Shepard walks into the squad room.

"Why do we need to know? Are we opening an investigation into sergeant Haas?" Shepard demands of me while coming to a stop beside me. I feel Alice place her hand on my back as she looks at Shepard in annoyance.

"Background check," I order my team without answering Shepard.

"On what grounds?"

"Stalking," I answer her.

"The young woman that was in this afternoon? Did she file a complaint?"

"No."

"IS this personal, Jethro?"

"If you're asking do I know her, the answer is yes," I answer her while attempting not to hurt Alice. The way Shepard is asking this question. I don't know if she is asking this because she is jealous or to hurt Alice but I am not going to play her game. I continue while turning to face her, "Is it personal? No."

"Since when does NCIS only work cases that you like… this guy is stalking a civilian, it is our job to protected the civilians," Alice informs Shepard when I walk away making me want to smile at my smart girl… she doesn't asked questions, she just does her job and makes sure everyone else does it, while pranking them… I love that about her.

I walk out of ear shout know thing that Alice will make sure they do what I tell them to do and I don't gave to be here for the moment.

.

Alice pov

.

"Do it," I order the team while staring Shepard into the eye. The team all get back to work while I watch Shepard leave the room.

"She knew," Ziva whisper to us when Shepard leaves.

"Reads Gibbs like a book," McGee responds.

"Short read, not a lot of dialogue," Tony comments.

"Oh, trust me Tony… nothing is short," I promise him making him freeze them all freeze while staring at me as I walk away from the plasma screen to my desk.

"You're kind of book," Ziva overlaps me.

"Y… You suggesting I don't read?" Tony asks Ziva while giving me a side eye for my comments.

"I think she's suggesting you only look at the picture, Tony," McGee informs him without looking away from the computer.

"A picture paints a thousand words, McGee," Tony responds.

"And in your case, most are the names of female body parts," Ziva comments.

"I'll have you know that since, 1981, I've been loyal subscriber to national geographic magazine."

"Tony, that's nothing to be proud of," I state while looking at my computer where I am trying to find out anything on Rudi.

"That's some serious picture-gazing right there."

"So how did she know?" McGee asks Ziva.

"Woman's intuition," Ziva answers him.

"Do you have that?" Tony asks Ziva making her look at him and he add, "Forget I asked that question."

"The director could see Gibbs was preoccupied with something, and she saw him with the girl."

"Sounds more like male logic than woman's intuition," McGee comments.

"Either way, I think she's worried about him," Tony comments.

"Question is, should we be?"

"No… you are wrong, she isn't worried about him. She is jealous that there is another lady that might know Jethro. Typical jealous ex-girlfriend," I correct them.

…

Gibbs pov

.

I look at the garden in the back of my yard that I have kept alive for Shannon. I find the point at which the photo was taken. I kneel down next to the garden with a hand shovel and find the place to dig. I begin to dig where I think the time capsule is going to be. I have to remove a tree which I gently lift out and put on the ground next to me with every intention of putting it back. I go to stab the shovel back into he ground to move more dirt only to hit the box. I move the last of the dirt with my hand ad see that it is her old metal lunchbox with a rainbow on it, making me grin… that lying little girl… she told me that she lost it at school and I had to buy her a new one… she know where it was.

I pull the box out of the ground and place it onto my lap so that I could put the tree back into the ground. I make sure the tree is stable and then I stand up with the time capsule and the shovel and walk back into my house. I walk though the house and walk into the basement without even looking away from the box… I walk to the bench at the end of my basement and put the box down gently. I wipe more off the dirt off to see that it is her 'My little pony' box, making me smile at the memory of the day I bought it. I remember singing to her.

 _'_ _Hush, little baby, don't say a word._

 _Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird,' I sing to Kelly while trying to get her to fall asleep._

 _"_ _Pony," Kelly corrects me._ I smile at the memory before blowing the dirt off the lid. I sit down on the ground with the box in my hand.

 _'_ _And if that mockingbird don't sing,' I continue to sing with Kelly joining me. I remember sitting with Kelly and Shannon on the ground, Shannon has her hand on top of mine so that her ring is sitting next to mine._

 _'_ _Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring._

 _If that diamond ring turns brass.' I am spinning Kelly around in the garden. Shannon is laughing at us on the sideline_

 _'_ _Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass. '_

 _"_ _Don't go daddy, please don't go," Kelly cries to me while hugging me tightly as Shannon is in the background carrying lemon juice. The last time I saw them… the day I wish I could change for all of eternity._

 _'_ _If that cart and bull breaks down, you're still the prettiest… little baby in town,' I sing as I drive away from my girls for the last time. Shannon is wearing a green dress while holding a crying little Kelly who is wearing a dark red dress._

"Yeah, Gibbs," I answer the phone that pulls me out of the memories only to release I am crying. Good I miss them.

"Jethro, he's back!" Maddie exclaims through the phone.

…

I quickly pull up in front of Maddie's apartment and jump out of my car. I slam the door of the car and run around it and through the open door and upstairs. I arrive at her door, only to see that the door has been kicked up and the lock is broken. I drawl my gun while steeping into the apartment and the first thing I see is that the certain has been pulled down. I clear the living room first.

"No," I hear outside apartment as I step into the bedroom. I turn and run back to the window to see Rudi forcing Maddie away from her home by her jacket.

"Shut up and get it!" Rudi orders her.

"No! Somebody help! Help me!" Maddie yells out as she is forced into a car. I turn and run out of the room. I run back down the stairs and out of the front door. I run outside to see a green car drive out from beside the building. I run into the middle of the road where I aim after the car but I don't shoot because I couldn't be sure I am not going to shoot Maddie…. I can't be responsible for her death like I was Kelly's

…

Alice pov

.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs calls out while walking out of the elevator into the squad room. Gibbs is wearing a green shirt over his white t-shirt and a cream jacket. I am wearing a black singlet under a red jacket with a matching pair of red paints and my black combat boots.

"BOLO's out on Haas's car," DiNozzo reports to Gibbs.

"His photograph and details are on their way to metro police," Ziva adds.

"Need her photo, too," Gibbs orders her while walking over to the plasma screen between Tony and McGee's desk.

"Abby's got one," McGee informs us. Gibbs turns to face him as he continues to explain, "From when she was trying to take yours, earlier. Ziva, you want to call Abby."

"Don't bother. I have a copy," I cut in while walking over to Ziva and handing her the phone with the photo of Gibbs and Maddie walking out up for her to us.

"Haas's current address," Gibbs orders us while walking over to his desk.

"Assigned to Quantico as an enlisted trainer, but he hasn't reported in there since he got back from Iraq," McGee reports.

"Got to be staying somewhere," Tony comments.

"No known relatives in the DC area.;'

"Friends then."

"Yeah… outside our vic's house," I comment while walking back to Gibbs.

"I want the address of every place he's ever lived," Gibs orders us while leaning over his computer as I place my hand on his back and rub it in an attempt of calming her down.

"I'm working on it, boss," Tony exclaims after a moment.

"Her cell phone?" I ask them while rubbing his back some more.

"Switched off," McGee informs us.

"His?" Gibbs demands of him.

"Also switched off, I'm trying to access his recent calls now."

"And?" Gibbs demands of him as I rub his back.

"Jethro," I whisper to him when he gets too angry with his team.

"And I've… well, I've only just started," McGee defends himself as Shepard walks into the squad room.

"How long will that take?" I ask him softly… Gibbs is far too involved in this case and I hope we find this girl alright or he will never forgive himself.

"I don't know," McGee answers me.

"You were going to brief me, weren't you?" Shepard taunts Gibbs.

"She called me. I got there, place was trashed… saw her being pushed into Haas's SUV," Gibbs informs her while walking back over to the plasma screen.

"You identified him?" Shepard demands of him.

"I identified his car," Gibbs corrects ger.

"So you didn't actually see Sergeant Haas abducting her? maybe it was someone else?" Shepard taunts him.

"Well, it must have been Haas driving."

"Could have been driving."

"Best guess," Gibbs states while walking back to his desk.

"Why are you so incline to defend the guilty party while letting the vic get hurt more? I know you don't have any emotions… but have some compassion, this poor girl is being stalked by a crazy marine… that is scary enough without being kidnapped by him and the head of NCIS having her head so far up her own ass that she couldn't see a murderer through all the serial killers she hired… SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO LIE AND OBSTRUCTED OUR INVESTIGATION INTO A KIDNAPPER AND STALKER. GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS SQUAD ROOM AND HAND IN YOUR RESIGNATION BEFORE I GET YOU FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM YOUR JOB… trust me, I can do it… I am Kate's sister," I threaten Shepard loud enough for everyone to hear and everyone in on the level is looking at us and waiting for what Shepard is going to do.

"Agent Todd," Shepard begins.

"No… That is Special Agent Todd to you, and if I have my way it will be just Miss Shepard for you very soon… we are doing our JOB. Even if this want a true case, how is this any different then what happened with Froggy. OH THERE IS A DIFFERENCE, WE HAVE EVIDENCE THERE IS STALKING AND A WITNESS OF A KIDNAPPING WHILE YOU HAD A PERSONAL VENDETTA," I demand of her before looking at all the people that are watching our fight… they don't normally get to see someone stand up to this gutless woman and here I am going it… I continue but in a whisper this time, "The whole building is watching your next move… don't make the wrong one or you'll be looking for a job."

"What else do we know about him?" Shepard demands of us as I walk over behind Gibbs desk and sit on the ledge to watch how she is going to save face and hopefully her job.

"Haas turned down Uncle Sam's offer to reenlist last month. In sixty days, he'll be a former marine," McGee reports to her.

"Late deployment?"

"Logistics, worked out of the green zone in Baghdad. Everything marine going to or coming from Iraq channelled through his department," McGee reports to her.

"Desk jockey," Tony comments.

"Got his phone records," McGee reports to us while putting them onto the plasma screen between him and Tony's desk. He continues, "Moderate usage."

"Recurring numbers?" Shepard demands of him.

"There's a few. Fifteen calls in the last eight days to a landline in the name of Maddie Tyler," McGee informs us as I stand up and walk over to Gibbs where I rub his shoulder.

"Others?" Shepard asks him.

"Five incoming from a company here in DC. It's the first call he received when he got back from Iraq, and the last call he got before he switched off his phone," McGee informs us as Gibbs gets up and walks back over to the plasma screen and I followed him.

"'Bordais security solutions,'" Shepard reads the name of the company off the website that McGee pulled up.

"BSS, a small sized security firm," McGee informs us.

"With a contract in Iraq, Marine today, mercenary tomorrow," Ziva comments while holding her phone to her ear.

"Filthy rich the day after. Looks like Haas was being headhunted," Tony adds.

"Yeah, I need a name, McGee," Gibbs orders him while walking back to the plasma screen above my desk.

"CEO is a retired Army Major, Max Bordais," McGee informs us while pulling up the mans profile on his own website.

…

"Ours is a small company, Agent Gibbs. Less than a hundred employees, the majority of whom were in Iraq," Bordais informs us in the conference room.

"Doing what?" Gibbs asks him.

"Protections details for various VIPS."

"Haas doesn't seem like the highly trained soldier your company would hire. He's a paper pusher," Shepard comments even though she has been protecting this man this whole time.

"And from what I've been told, no one pushes paper better," Bordais informs her as Gibbs gets up and walks over to look outside of the window.

"Signed him up?" I ask him.

"Made him a generous offer," Bordais informs us.

"And?" Gibbs demands of him while walking behind him.

"He passed."

"He say why?" I ask him next.

"No. evidently a thousand dollars a day wasn't enough."

"A lot of money for a clerk," Shepard comments.

"Guess he didn't need the money," Bordias informs her while looking at her before looking at Gibbs and adding, "Look, I did my homework. Has is considered one of the best logistics people in Iraq. You want it, he'll find it. 'you can't get it through channels, you get it through has,' that's what they say about him. A guy like that is worth a dozen of my highly trained soldiers."

"Where is he?" Gibbs demands of him while leaning on the back of my chair.

"I don't know," Bordais informs us.

"I only have his cell phone number. Am I under arrest?"

"No," Shepard answers him making him turn to get up but Gibbs forces him back into his chair.

"Where is he?" Gibbs demands of him while sitting down on the table facing him.

"Agent Gibs," Shepard begins.

"He is wanted for going AWL… if you don't help us you can and WILL be arrested for aiding a criminal," I inform him calmly.

"I only talked to him on the phone. He didn't want to meet me. He made it clear he wasn't looking for a job. Now, if you're not going to arrest me, I'm walking out of here," Bordais informs us while leaning into Gibbs personal space. Gibbs looks over at Shepard then back to me before looking at Bordais again before standing up and walking away, allowing Bordais to leave the room.

"Nicely handled, Jethro," Shepard comments when we are alone again. He continues, "You're right. He's holding something back."

"I don't like him," I state while standing up and walking over to Gibbs and placing my hand on his arm.

"Then again, he's not the only one, is he?" Shepard asks him. She continues, "You said you knew her."

"Family friend," Gibbs answers him.

"When?"

"Long time ago."

"How long? Five years, ten years?"

"It is none of your business. You might badly run this business, but your not his wife… or his girlfriend for that matter… drop it," I order her while placing my body between them two. I continue, "We are done here… if you actually decide to care about the case, you can come and talk about it… if not, get lost. Or drop dead, I really don't care which." I turn Gibbs and lead him out of the room before Shepard can get over her shock of me stepping in.

We walk out of the room and he almost runs down the stair with me struggling to keep up with him.

"Gibbs," Abby exclaims while running up after us. She continues, "I e-mailed Maddie's photo to state and local police. I printed you one, too." Abby informs Gibbs while handing him the photo of him and Maddie walking out and they are both smiling. She continues, "OF course, I cropped you out of the one that I e-mailed. I just thought that maybe you would want a copy of the original."

"Thanks Abby," I say to her while she is smiling at Gibbs who is smiling at the photo.

"She was Kelly's friend, wasn't she?" Abby asks him making him node at her and she adds, "We're going to find her, Gibbs. I know it"

"I can promise that," I inform her while placing my hand on Gibbs arm with a grin. A computer starts to beep in the squad room.

"Boss, you might want to see this," Tony calls out making us walk to the squad room with Abby. Tony and Ziva is looking at the plasma screen above my desk while McGee is sitting at his desk.

"What's up?" I ask them.

"McGee got something," Tony informs us.

"I plotted all the cell phone calls Haas received or made in the last eight days," McGee informs us while showing up a map with all the phone calls plotted onto it. Gibbs steps between Tony and Ziva while I stop in front of him with his hands on my hip while watching the screen. McGee continues, "Most were made from his car as he was driving. The signal passed from tower to tower, which doesn't help us, but three of the calls were made from the same location using the same tower each time." He highlights the towers while continuing, "Now given the range and signal strength, they could only have been made from this four-block radius."

"Lot of real estate, McGee," Gibbs states while looking at the block McGee highlighted.

"Until you added what I found. Only job Haas ever had in DC was in the six months before he joined the marines. He worked as a night watchman at a clothing factory, lived on-site. The factory closed three years ago," Tony informs us as McGee zooms in on the factory on the map.

"Puts him right in the zone," McGee adds.

…

We arrive at the warehouse and enter through he side door with our guns raise, ready to fire is need be. There is music playing in the room, 'until I die' by johnny cash. We walk down the hallway to see Haas's car in the room. Ziva opens the boot to see that it is empty.

We continue to clear the building and find a radio on the wall above someone's bed.

"Shushed," Ziva whispers to us while stopping us from moving. She asks us after a moment, "Hear that?" Gibbs reaches over and turns the music off, allowing us all to hear flies coming from somewhere. Ziva calls for the elevator which arrives at our floor and opens to show Rudi, dead, almost naked, nailed down to the floor of the elevator. With flies everywhere.

"Guess we found Haas," Tony comments as we lower our guns know that there isn't a threat of Rudi.

…

McGee is shooting the crime scene whole Ducky walked up behind us. Gibbs is taking notes on what he is seeing while I am squatting next to the body without touching it.

"Not quite a stairway to heaven. Perhaps an elevator to a less compelling place," Ducky comments while looking at us. He leans over while placing his bag down, before asking us, "This is he, I take it?"

"Yup," Gibbs asks him.

"Rudi Haas," I add while looking back at him.

"When we're confronted with crucifixion, we immediately think of the romans, but it was used as a form of execution long before them by the Egyptian and the Greeks, and after them, by the Persians, and then, of course, the Japanese," Ducky informs us wile walking up behind Gibbs.

"Duck, I don't have a whole lot of time on this one," Gibbs cuts him off.

"Dad, we have a missing girl and we are against the clock on this one," I inform while looking up at him.

"Yes, I understand, Jethro, Alice," Ducky says to us while squatting down next to me. He continue while looking at the victim, "Obviously at first blush, the uninitiated would pounce upon the theory that he was involved in some sort of macabre or perhaps demonic ritual, but we are not so quick to draw such an easy conclusion, are we, Timothy?" we all turn to face McGee only to see him playing on his camera. He looks at us making Ducky continue while stepping over the body, "Numerous cuts and nicks on his torso and face. Significant bruising of the left arm. Coloration indicates that this bruise predates these more recent wounds. Yeah, someone gripped him, vicelike, and squeezed."

"Yeah, that would have been me, Duck," Gibbs admits to him. Ducky looks up before looking at McGee in warning.

"I'll go see how the others are doing," McGee says while catching on.

"Now, Jethro, I think in this case, there is a totally mundane, though no-less-sickening reason that he was nailed to the floor. They didn't want us to struggle while they tortured him," Ducky informs us.

"Time of death, dad?" I ask him softly.

"Well, now, that is another problem. well, not for me, but for you. Rigor is fully set. He's as stiff as the boards to which he is nailed, indicating a time of death at least twelve hours ago. I'm afraid sergeant Haas was already long dead when Maddie Tyler was abducted," Ducky informs us.

"Damn… he was a good suspected too," I mumble while standing up and placing my hand on Gibbs arm. I continue, "I'll see how the team is doing." I walk back down the hallway to the car that Tony, McGee and Ziva are processing.

"Guy comes back from Iraq, starts stalking a girl he barely knows, trashes her apartment, and then abducts her?" Tony asks them while photographing the keys in the ignition.

"Didn't abduct her," I correct Tony.

"Didn't abduct her?" Tony asks me in surprise.

"Already dead. Tortured first," I inform him while leaning the window of the car.

"He gave them Maddie's address."

"They trashed her apartment. Apparently, they did not find what they were looking for," Ziva comments.

"So they abducted her. whoever they are," Tony continues.

"She must know something."

"Or have something they want."

"McGee," Gibbs calls out to who is working under the driver seat while leaning though the same window I am, and placing his hand on my hip.

"It's a GPS locater, boss. Real time, wired into the radio," McGee informs us while Ziva photographs the GPS locater. He comments, "Our stalker was being stalked."

…

"You're always welcome down here, Jethro, but I've barely started," Ducky comments without looking at us as we walk into autopsy where he has Rudi on the table.

"I'll take whatever you got," Gibbs says to him as we come to a stop beside him.

"Well.. nothing confirmed at this point. No fatal wounds. And there was very little blood loss at the scene. So we can rule out stabbing, bludgeoning and gunshots. No sign of strangulation. There does appear to be some petechial haemorrhaging, which suggests asphyxia," Ducky informs us while looking through a magnifying glass to the victims eyes while Gibbs walks around the table. He continues, "Someone… could have smothered him with a pillow or clamped a hand over his nose and mouth… Jethro, she was abducted more than six hours ago."

"Your point?" Gibbs asks him.

"Well, there's a strong possibility that… look, if I have to explain it, perhaps you are too close to this case."

"What else?" Gibbs asks him while walking away from them.

"Swelling of his face. And there are these lumps and bumps. Could be hives," Ducky informs us while pointing out the marks on the victims face.

"Allergic reaction?" I ask him calmly.

"Wait a minute. It could be anaphylactic shock," Ducky informs us while walking over to pick up the file and walk back over to us where he puts the file on the Rudi's stomach while moving onto the head of the Rudi. "Yes, the most severe form of anaphylaxis occurs when an allergic response triggers the release of large quantities of immunological mediators. This leads to systemic vasodilation. Yes, my suspicions where correct. His air passages are closed up. Probably dead within minutes."

"Allergic to what?" Gibbs and I ask together.

"Seafood. And he wouldn't have to have eaten any of it. Merely coming into contact with it would have caused his demise," Ducky informs us. He continues, "Jethro, just who are you trying to save?" Gibbs stares at him for a long moment while thinking. I walk around the table and put my hand on his arm in support.

"I look at her, I see Kelly, Duck. How it should have been," Gibbs admits.

"Jethro, be careful. Don't let you… somethings… just can't be undone," Ducky informs Gibbs while trying not to hurt him.

"I wasn't there then. I am now," Gibbs states.

"I don't want to see you, cause I don't have anything yet. Working on it as fast as I can, you know how fast that is nobody's faster than me. I am the master of faster, normal, but there's nothing normal about this," Abby rambles as she walks into autopsy and over to us. She turns to face ducky while asking, "Do you have my things?"

"Yes, his clothes and the nails," Ducky says while walking off to get them.

"We're going to find her, Gibbs," Abby promise him. She continues, "We're going to find her. you believe that, right? Don't answer that. Forget I asked. Just…" she trails off while stepping up to him and pulling him into a tight hug. She release him while walking over to Ducky and saying, "Okay. I need all of you to get out of my lab. Let me do my thing. I have all these samples to test and Major Mass Spec is going to blow up in protest if I don't blow up first." We are all looking at her in amusement and she slowly looks up at us and then around the room. She says, "Sorry. This isn't my lab. I'm going to go."

Ducky walks closure to us while looking at Gibbs who returns the look but when he doesn't say anything Gibbs turns and leaves the room with me following him. We hit the button for the elevator because Abby has already left in the elevator but I don't mind waiting for it at the moment. We step into the elevator and begin the long track back up to the squad room nut I hit the stop button.

"Jethro, are you alright?" I ask him softly while turning to face him.

"I'm fine," Gibbs lies.

"It's fine to be worried about her… but she'll be fine. She has the best team looking for her," I inform him calmly.

"I have to protect her… I couldn't protected my family, but I can protected Maddie," Gibbs informs me.

"We well protected her… she will be found, perfectly safe," I promise him while pulling him into a hug which he tightly returns.

"I love you, baby," Gibbs mumbles into my neck while holding me against him.

"I love you too… know lets go see what the team has found on this case," I state while pulling away from him and starting the elevator again.

…

"A high-end item like a GPS locator I figured the manufacturer would keep a record of who it was sold to. Cross-checked the serial number against their records," McGee informs us in the squad room while putting the information up on the plasma above my desk which we are all but McGee standing around the plasma screen. He put the name of how brought the GPS locator.

"Makes Maxie Bordais a big fat liar," Tony comments while looking at Max Bordais bio again.

"And a suspect. Bring him in," Shepard orders us.

…

No pov

.

"Soldier of fortune is about to become soldier of misfortune," Tony comments in the observation room while watching Bordais.

"Dogs of was are about to taste the hair of the dogs," Ziva adds making Tony look at her in surprise.

"Think she's alive?" Tony asks her after a moment.

"After what they did to Haas, maybe it'd be best if she was not."

"Showtime," Tony comments as the door open in the integration room. In walks Shepard followed by Alice and then finally Gibbs who shuts the door behind them while Shepard sits across from Bordais while Alice sits on the end of the table.

"This your subtle way of sending me a message, director?" Bordais asks her as Gibbs stands by the door.

"Nothing subtle about it, Mr Bordais. You are now officially a suspect in this murder investigation," Shepard informs her.

"Want to explain that?" Alice asks him as Gibbs walks over to Alice and throws down the GPS locater.

"GPS locator. Real-time tracking of target vehicles," Bordais informs us.

"Bought by your company," Gibbs states.

"Found in Sergeant Haas's car," Shepard adds.

"Operational," Alice finishes.

"Wait for it. Wait for it," Tony mumbles while watching them, as Bordais looks at all the people in the squad room.

"I need to make a phone call," Bordais informs them while leaning forward in his chair.

"Some of these guys are so predictable. First sign of pressure, and they cave. See that coming a mile away," Tony comments.

"A lawyer is not going to help you now," Shepard comments.

"I'm not calling a lawyer. Calling the pentagon," Bordais informs them while leaning back in his chair. Tony looks surprised at that while Ziva looks happy. Gibbs and Alice look at each other in disbelief without commenting.

"Like I said, hair of the dogs," Ziva exclaims while tapping Tony on the arm.

…

Alice pov

.

"I was assigned as a special investigator with SIGIR. I take it you've heard of us?" Marine col. Stacey Radcliffe asks us proudly in Shepard's office. Radcliffe is standing in front of the desk that Shepard is sitting behind while Bordais is sitting on the conference table. Gibbs and I are sitting on the couch off the side of the office where we can watch everything, Gibbs has his legs crossed while I have my arms crossed while watching.

"Special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction," Shepard agrees with her that she knows him.

"As I'm sure you're aware, SIGIR was established to audit funds allocated to the rebuilding of Iraq. Unfortunately, substantial amounts of that money are unaccounted for," Radcliffe informs us.

"I heard eight billion dollars in cash. Hundred dollar notes. Plane loads of them," Shepard comments.

"No one denies mistakes were made, director. We're doing the best we can to recover the money to return it back to the Iraqi people."

"What's that got to do with Haas?" I demand of them. We are running out of time.

"Two of my employees were suspected of stealing four million dollars from a vault in Baghdad three years ago," Bordais informs us.

"Names?" Gibbs demands of them while standing up and walking over to them.

"Danny Coyle, brain Judd. Both ex-army," Bordais informs us while Radcliffe hands Gibbs the file of the two men. He continues, "While we suspected them, we never found the money."

"Until two weeks ago. It had never left Iraq. Couldn't move it. Finally, they approached sergeant Haas. He found a way to smuggle the money out of the country. But it appears he got greedy," Radcliffe informs us as Gibbs walks back over to where I am sitting.

"No honour among thieves," Shepard comments.

"Sergeant Haas is the only one who knows how the money's being shipped," Radcliffe informs us.

"His tour was up. He didn't have a lot of time to organize it. We think just a few days," Bordais informs us as Gibbs reads the file beside me as I am looking over his shoulder.

"You were tracking him via GPS?" Shepard asks them.

"Yes," Radcliffe answers her.

"And Coyle and Judd?"

"Until they switched cars twenty-four hours ago. We know the money has arrived. We just have no idea how or where Haas is planning to collect it."

"You know where they are?" Gibbs demands of her.

"No."

"You said you were tracking them," I remind her calmly.

"Were tracking them. As I said, we lost them," she corrects me.

"Compromised?" Gibbs asks her.

"We font believe so," Radcliffe says to us in annoyance. Oh, we are good at annoying people.

"They're very good at what they do. Taking counter measure, changing cars, only turning on cell phones to check messages," Bordais adds.

"They abducted a girl this morning," I inform them calmly.

"We know," Radcliffe informs us making Gibbs get up angrily. That is the wrong thing to say right now, and I don't know if they will survive this.

"You know?" Gibbs demands of them.

"Out surveillance was breaking down, and we were waiting for more manpower," Radcliffe informs him.

"You saw it happen?" Gibbs demands softly.

"We couldn't have stopped it, agent Gibbs, and I resent the suggestion that we placed this operation ahead of the life of that young woman," Radcliffe snaps back at Gibbs in defence.

"Where did you lose them?" I ask her calmly.

"I don't have to share that information with you."

"Where?" Gibbs demands of it."

"Agent Gibbs," Shepard attempts to do it.

"In her apartment, in the street?" Gibbs asks her.

"The next suburb?" I asks next.

"Where exactly did you lose them, colonel?" Gibbs yells at her.

"Enough, agent Gibbs," Shepard overlaps him. Gibbs stares at her for a long time before walking past her and throwing the file down while leaving.

"I think we're done here," Radcliffe says before turning to leave.

"The help we are!" Shepard exclaims.

"There is a murder and kidnapping… you do NOT want to get in our way. We will find Maddie… that's her name is you never bothered to ask who she was. And then we will arrest you obstruction of justice," I promise them calmly.

"NCIS is conducting an investigation into the murder of a united states marine, and I can assure you, I will bring down the weight of this service if you do not give me your at most cooperation. Do I make myself understood?" Shepard adds to my comment.

"Yes, ma'am," Radcliffe answers.

"Where exactly did you lose them?" I demand of her calmly.

…

No one pov

.

"Hey, DiNozzo," Gibbs says while he walks into the squad room from the director's office.

"Boss," Tony responds.

"Abby gets something, you handle it," Gibbs orders him while walking over to his desk.

"No problem, call you right away," Tony answers.

"Is that what I said, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks him while looking at him.

"I'll handle it," Tony promises as Gibbs removes his gun out of the desk drawl he keeps it in. making everyone watch him as he watches the mail lady deliver letters before turning and walking towards the elevator with director Shepard and Alice walking down the stairs and see him. Shepard rushes to catch up to him while Alice walks into the squad room.

"Jethro," Shepard says when she catches up to him as the elevator arrive. He steps in as she continues, "they think Coyle and Judd might be somewhere down in the old dock district."

"Tell, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders her while pointing to the squad room and hitting the button in the elevator, closing the door on her. once the elevator door is completely closed she walks back over to the squad room where DiNozzo is doing paperwork at his desk.

"Tony," Shepard says while walking up to him.

"Director?" Tony asks her in confusion, what does she want with him know? How does she want him to lie to know?

"Any idea where he's going?"

"No."

"Hazard a guess?"

"Well, he took his badge and his gun. Maybe he's gonna shoot someone," Tony comments while McGee and Alice walk over to Gibbs desk. Alice opens the drawl and hands something to McGee.

"Oh, boy," McGee mumbles while showing everyone that he is holding Gibbs badge.

…

Gibbs dials a number on his phone while standing in the elevator waiting for it to get back to the ground floor.

"This is Coyle. Leave a message," the answering machine of the phone call answers.

"You want your money, call me back," Gibbs says into the phone.

…

Alice pov

.

"This is ground control to major Mc-Tom. Tis is ground control to Major Tom. Is anybody out there?" Tony says to McGee while standing behind McGee who is staring at the plasma screen between Tony and McGee's desk. I am sitting at my desk while looking for any sign of Maddie for Gibbs.

"What?" McGee demands of her.

"Ah… I'm just checking. You've been staring into space for the last hour. Even on the Mc-Geek-o scale that's cause for concern," Tony comments while walking around McGee.

"It's been five minutes, not an hour, and I'm not staring into space, I'm staring at the plasma," McGee corrects him.

"Calling Gibbs?" Tony asks Ziva.

"He is not picking up," Ziva answers before turning to me and adding, "Why don't you call him?"

"Because I don't know if I want that question answered," I inform her without looking up from my computer… I don't know what is worse, calling Gibbs and him answering but not being able to tell me where he is, or him not answering me. Either way I wont know where he is going.

"Worried about him?" Tony asks us.

"Always… but that's what I get for dating an idiot. But he'll be alright. He has to, or I'll kill him myself," I comment while looking up from my computer to look at them.

"Are you?" Ziva asks Tony after a moment of silence while looking at me.

"You be worried about him. I'll be tentatively troubled… privately perturbed… fleetingly flustered," Tony answers her while walking around McGee again.

"Have you called him?"

"I would have to bee deeply discombobulated to even think of calling him. Okay, mc-Tim, you win. What are we looking at?" Tony asks while turning to face the plasma screen.

"What do you see?" McGee asks Tony while looking at a pyramid.

 _MADDIE Tyler: MISSING_ _ **photo of Maddie with Gibbs cut out.**_

 _FOUR MILLION DOLLARS: MISSING_

 ** _photo of Rudi_** _SERGEANT RUDI, USMC LOGISTICS DIVISION – IRAQ_

 ** _photo if max._** _MAX BOURDAIS, DANNY COYLE, BRAIN JUDO_ _ **photo of Coyle**_

 ** _photo of Judo_**

 _BORDAIS SECURITY SYSTEMS (BSS)_

 _COLONEL STACEY RADCLIFFE, USMC, SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR IRAQI RECONSTRUCTION (SIGIR)_

 _RIGHT BILLION DOLLARS: MISSING FROM TWENTY BILLION DOLLARS TOTAL SHIPPED FROM USA TO IRAQ 2003-2004_

"It's an iceberg, and we're headed right for it," Tony exclaims while slapping his hand down onto McGee's shoulder.

"More line the four million dollar tip of an eight million dollar iceberg," McGee comments.

"Forget the four million dollars, I'd settle for finding Maddie," Tony comments.

"Me too… Jethro couldn't and wouldn't survive if we don't find her, and bring her back safely," I comments.

"I've been trying to figure out where she fits," McGee comments while Ziva gets up and walks over to them to look at the pyramid.

"She doesn't," Tony comments.

"For her to have been abducted, they must think she has the money," Ziva comments.

"Or can lead her to the money," McGee comments.

"If she can, she doesn't know. She would have told Gibbs," Tony comments.

"Whose to say that didn't tell Jethro… he isn't exactly the type to tell us everything she knows," I comment while getting up and walking over to them.

"Maybe she doesn't know she knows," Ziva comments as we all turn to face her. she continues, "Sergeant Haas comes back from Iraq , the first thing he does is try to move in with a girl he's dated twice. Why."

"He's a man," Tony comments.

"What does she have that he does not?"

"A bed," Tony answer her.

"A room," McGee overlaps her.

"A place for Haas to stay."

"He had a room at Quantico," Ziva reminds.

"So, what does her apartment have that Quantico doesn't?" McGee asks.

"Privacy," Tony answers him.

"No guardhouse," Ziva adds.

"A street address," Shepard informs us while standing next to Tony's desk.

"A civilian address and civilian mail… hell, you could send Y pestis and no one bats an eyelid," I comment while attempting not to think about the day I almost died and got together with Gibbs… one of the best and worse days of my life. I continue after a moment, "He sent something in the mail… that's why he was stalking her."

"How long does takes a letter to get here from Iraq?" Tony asks Shepard.

"A week. Give or take a day or two. He's from Chicago. No family here. No delivery address," Ziva answers him.

"He wasn't stalking her. He was hanging out to check the mail," McGee releases.

"Get down to her apartment. Find the mailman," Shepard orders us. Everyone rushes to their desk but for me and Tony who is looking annoyed. Shepard slowly walks up to us and whispers "HE figured it out."

"And he didn't tell us," Tony adds. He asks her softly, "You call him?"

She shakes her head yes before asking him, "You?"

"He didn't pick up," Tony admits softly.

…

Gibbs pov

.

I am sitting on Maddie's bed while looking at the photo of Maddie and Kelly… I miss my girls, all of them. I remember them laughing up at me. I remember spinning my daughter around in the back yard of my home… because no matter what house we were in, it was home because my girls made it home… I haven't been home in a very long time, and when Maddie is safe, I am taking Alice back home… and I am not letting her leave all weekend, she is going to be my new home and no one is going to take it from me this time.

 _'_ _If that diamond ring turns brass_

 _Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass,' I sing with Kelly as she sits with Shannon on the garden that I have kept alive all this time._

 _"_ _Don't go, daddy. Please, please don't go," Kelly begs of me._

 _"_ _I still think about her, after all these years. Wonder what she'd be like," Maddie says to me as I am ignoring her bad coffee that she made me._

"Like you," I whisper the answer I gave her.

"Excuse me," someone knocks on the door. I look up to see the mail man. I put the photo in my jacket next to the photo of Alice and me in the hospital… I didn't mean to pick that one up but I did anyway. He continues, "Got a registered letter for Rudi Haas. I need to see some ID." I smirk at him while bouncing on the balls of my feet before opening my jacket so he can see my gun. He continues, "I don't want to know." He hands me the clip board and I take it and sign for the letter. I return it to him and he hands me the letter that I have been waiting all day for. I watch him walk away before opening the letter and dropping the envelope onto the ground for my team to find… they need to know that I have the letter and that Maddie's still safe because I have the evidence they need to find the money… and my team will find me in time. I look at the letter but I am having trouble reading it because it is on yellow paper and I don't have my glasses. THAT I DON'T NEED, NO MATTER WHAT ALICE SAYS.

…

No one pov

.

McGee and Ziva come around the corner to see the mail man walking down the street.

"There he is," Ziva exclaims making McGee pull the car up. Ziva jumps out and runs over to the guy while exclaiming, "Excuse me! NCIS. We're trying to locate a letter addressed to Sergeant Rudi Hass."

"Just delivered it," the mail man informs him.

"Okay. Thank you."

…

"How long?" Shepard asks Ziva over the phone as Gibbs phone begin to ring. Tony comes running into the room.

"Five minutes," Ziva answers her.

"Hello, NCIS this is Gibbs phone. He is unable to answers or talk at the moment but if you leave a message, I will give it to him at the next possible moment," Alice answers the phone.

"He signed for a letter. It appears Haas shipped the money out of Iraq as the personal effects of a dead marine. Gibbs must have the receipt. Gone to collect them," Ziva informs her in the apartment while holding the envelope Gibbs dropped on the ground. But there is no other evidence that Gibbs has ever been there.

"Find him, Ziva," Gibbs orders her before handing up.

.

Alice pov

.

"HE beat us too it," Shepard informs us as I hang up Gibbs phone.

"Abby… she's caught a fish," I inform them while walking off to the elevator to go see what Abby found… I hope it will help us find Maddie and Gibbs.

…

"Atlantic bluefin tuna. These pallet nails were sticky with it. The fish oil gets caught in the spiral shank of the nails, it dries, it gets gucky. The more oil, the more gucky. So they're just layer after layer after layer of guck. When they whacked these into his hands, they were like poison darts," Abby explains to us in the lab while holding the nails in the evidences bag.

"How common is bluefin tuna?" Shepard asks her.

"I checked with the fishing authorities. There's very few places that handle it in DC. Most are at the Maine avenue fish market," Abby informs us while putting the nails down and walk over to her computer with us following her.

"That's too crowded," Tony comments.

"That leaves us with… southwestern marine. It's down by the old dock. There was an exporting company there. It closed down a couple years ago," Abby informs us while pulling the address up on a map on her computer.

"Exporting what?" Shepard asks her.

"Can I guess?" I ask her before continuing, "Guck?"

"Guck," Abby agrees with me.

"I'll get McGee and Ziva to meet you there," Shepard informs us as we turn to leave.

.

No one pov

.

Alice and Tony leave the lab, Shepard does to follow them and Abby follows her one step behind her. she turns and says, "Abby."

"Has anybody heard from Gibbs?" Abby asks her sadly.

"No," Shepard answers her.

"I called him and he didn't pick up. He always picks up.'

"Good work, Abby," Shepard says while tapping her arm before turning and leaving the room.

…

Gibbs pov

.

I am standing out the desk while collecting the money as my phone rings.

"Yeah," I answer the phone as a marine comes out with a bag.

"You got it?" Coyle demands of my.

"I got it," I answer him as the bag is placed on the table.

"All right, then bring it to us."

"where?" I demand while signing for the bags.

"Southwestern Marine, main storage building. And make sure it's just you."

"On my way," I state while hanging up the phone. I grab the two bags and leave the building.

…

Alice pov

.

Tony and I arrive at the southwestern marine but it looks completely empty as we get out of our car.

"Something doesn't feel right," I comment.

…

Gibbs pov

.

I walk down the warehouse with one of the bags over my left shoulder. There are two men and Maddie. The older one, Judo, has his gun pointed at me while the younger one, Coyle, has his gun pointed to the scared but Maddie.

"You Okay?" I ask Maddie who nodes at me.

"I'm so sorry," She says to me and I know that she is sorry she came to me to protect her but I am not. I am not going to another one of my girls funerals.

"You're her father?" Coyle demands of me.

"It make a difference if I am?" I demand of him. I throw the single bag of money on the ground between us.

"Not to me. Arms up," Coyle informs me while Judo walks over to me and searches me for the gun as Coyle pointed his gun at Maddie's head… I am going to kill these two.

"Spread 'em," Judo orders me while kicking my legs apart. He holsters his gun while patting me down. He calls out, "He's clean."

"Haas said there were two bags," Coyle informs me.

"Other one is in the trunk of my car," I inform him while reaching into my pocket and get the keys out as Judo checks the bag.

"Yeah, it's good," he says while holding up a bundle of cash.

"You get the keys, I get Maddie," I inform him while shaking the keys in the air.

"Where's the car?" Coyle demands of me.

"Downtown parking lot. I caught a cab," I inform him smartly. He continues to glare at me while watching me, trying to guess if I am lying or not.

"Then you better find another cab and go get it," he orders me while pointing the gun at Maddie's head who gasp in fear.

"Get it yourself," I order him while throwing the keys into the air. Maddie ducks while elbowing Coyle in the stomach. She ducks under Judo who swings the bag at her head as I dart over and punch him in the stomach. I push the two men together and over while ordering Maddie, "Run! In the car! Car!" I push Maddie into the car before getting in myself as well… I look over and make sure that Maddie is laying below the dash while I start the car. Coyle and Judo begin to shoot at the car as I slam it into reverse, so I put my hand on Maddie's head to hold her down while I reverse out of here.

.

No pov

.

Tony and Alice look through the fence when they hear gunshots as Gibbs backs the car towards the water to get away. The car goes over into the water as Alice and Tony run towards there car. Gibbs attempts to get Maddie out of the car because she is unconscious from the car hitting the water, he then tries to get out himself but the steering wheel is holding his legs in place. He then attempts to smash the windows out but none of them will break for him.

.

Gibbs pov

.

I watch as the water is broken and then I see Tony swimming towards us, quickly. He tries my door but it wont open so he returns to punching on the glass. He manages to force it away from the fame of the car, I quickly push Maddie out and into Tony's hands. I watch as he swims away with her, at least I saved her… she is safe now. I'm going to die down here and I am okay with that… that is my last thought before everything turns white.

"It's okay daddy," I hear Kelly before I see her… she is so pretty, just like her mother. I look at them, they haven't aged a day… Kelly continues, "It's okay. Go back, daddy. It's okay. Go back, daddy. Go back. It's okay. I love you, daddy. Love you. I love you, daddy."

I look over to see Alice leaning over a soaking wet Maddie who is looking back at me… I finally saved my girl.

"Thank god," Alice gasp out.

…

I run down into my basement to see the lunch box still sitting on the bench where I left it. I am wearing a black long sleeve shirt under a white t-shirt with an old pair of work cargo pants. I walk over to the lunch box and pick it up but I can't open it… it was her treasure and I can't take that from Kelly. I pull the two photos of Maddie and Kelly and me and Maddie out of my pocket. I place the photo down while grabbing the lunch box and my shovel, I will just put that back where I found it.


	16. Heart-to-heart

"Have you thought about the wedding at all?" Abby asks me as I eat some of the popcorn while watching a movie on her plasma screen because it is a slow day.

"Not really. I haven't even talk the team I am engaged yet," I state while watching the movie.

"Do you even know when you want to get married? Summer? Winter? Spring? Autumn?"

"What time do we have the lest caseload as to actually get some alone time with Jethro?" I ask her making her laugh at me.

"I guess you have a point. Do you at least know where you want to go for the honeymoon?" Abby asks me while a grin.

"Who says we need to go anywhere? As long as we aren't here, in this building," I state before adding, "And away from Tony."

"Have you thought about anything then?" Abby asks me while stealing some of my popcorn.

"I want ugly tony the second to be in the wedding and Jethro is okay with it as long as she knows it is his day not hers," I inform her making her laugh at me. I smirk at her before continuing, "In all seriousness I would like you to be my maid-of-honour."

"Wait, what?" Abby asks me while staring at me in surprise.

"Abby, I don't have that many friends and even less of them are females… you are really the only person I could think of, unless I can talk Tony into wearing a dress for the day," I state.

"I don't want to see that as much as I do what to see it," Abby laughs with me.

"I know, but I don't think he would do it and if he does, Jethro might just kill us," I state while laughing with her.

"But it would be a day to remember," Abby states.

"So seeing Jethro in a suit won't be enough for the day to remembered by?" I ask her with a smirk.

"Have you even looked at dresses yet?" Abby asks me.

"No, I there are too many styles."

"Lets see if we can find a style you might like," Abby comments while wheeling her chair back over to her desk and I follow her with a huff. There really are too many dresses.

"what style do you think you would like?" Abby asks me while pulling up a wedding dress site. I look them over, it is sorted into different types, ballroom dress, mermaid dresses, short dress, simple, elegant, sweetheart, princess, beach. All types of dresses.

"Um," I mumble while looking at them all. I comment, "I don't know. There is too many."

"Once you pick a date you should pick the dress. But if I was you, I would look at some dresses to see what you think you would like," Abby comments while looking through the site.

"Why does there have to be so many choices?" I ask her.

"I don't know… but I have something to ask about the wedding," Abby states making me node at her. she continues, "What are you going to serve, coffee or bourbon?"

"Both?" I ask her with a half-smile and raising my shoulder in question.

"You have to think about these things," Abby states while looking at me as the move plays in the background.

"I know but I don't want to have that conversation," I state.

"Why not?"

"Because Tony hasn't worked it out yet," I state while leaning on the table.

"So when Tony figures it out, you are going to plan the wedding?" Abby asks me with a grin.

"Or he might find it out when he get the invitation. Depends how long it takes him to work it out," I state with a smirk.

"You are mean sometimes," Abby laughs at me.

"Of course I am mean. I am Kate's sister," I state while placing the popcorn down and walking out of the lab.

…

"What are you doing?" Tony asks me while I am googling on my computer in the squad room.

"Looking into something," I answer him without paying attention to him.

"Looking into what?" Ziva asks me getting up from behind her desk.

"Does it matter?" I ask her calmly.

"Yes. If you are doing it at work, we have a right to know," Tony informs me.

"The only right you have to know about what I do is if it is related to the case… that we don't even have at the moment," I state while closing the browser and looking at him as he tries to sneak around my desk to see what I am looking at. I continue, "But hey if you believe that anything that happen is everyone's business. You first, who or what has been messaging you all day?"

"Don't change the subject," Tony whines at me.

"I'm not changing the subject, I am stating that age before beauty," I say while smirking at him as I lean back in my chair.

"Know what, it doesn't matter," Tony exclaims while moving back to his desk making me laugh at him.

"See, that's what I thought," I comment while reopening the internet site and continuing to read the page.

"What could have you so interested?" Tony asks me.

"Nothing that you would like to look at," I answer him as I continue to read the page.

"Alice, you are getting more secretive then normal. I plan to find out why," Tony promise me making me smirk at him.

"I do hope so… but the question is how long will it take you? And who will work it out first," I state while looking up at him.

"Is that a challenge?" Tony asks me.

"Yep. For all of you."

"What do we get if we work it out?" McGee asks me while looking up at me.

"The satisfaction of being a better investigator then Tony," I offer to him as I shrug my shoulder at him.

"That all?" Tony asks me disappointedly.

"That not good enough?" I ask him with a smirk.

"No," They all answer me together.

"Fine. Who every works it out first, I'll answer one question," I state while leaning back in my chair some more.

"Anything we want to know?" Tony asks me with a pervy grin.

"Anything," I agree with him while looking back to the computer.

"This is going to be fun," Tony comments while looking at me.

"How many hints are you going to give us this time?" McGee asks me while looking at me.

"Only one… you should have worked it out over a month ago," I answer him while leaning back in my chair.

"Does Abby know?" Ziva asks me.

"Yes. And dad. I think that's all the people that know," I answer her while leaning over to grab my coffee only to release it is empty again.

"That's all your going to tell us?" Tony exclaims while looking at me in surprise.

"It should be all you need to know to work it out," I state while looking him in the eye as I add, "Or are you as good an investigator as the FBI."

"That's not enough information," Tony complains.

"Tony, we have worked cases with less and court the killer," I state while leaning back in the chair.

"So is there a victim?" Ziva asks me.

"No. But that doesn't mean you can't work it out," I state calmly.

"How long do we have?" McGee asks me.

"Until I say time is up… could be a day or it could be a lifetime," I state while locking my computer and standing up. I walk out of the squad room to get more coffee while they talk amongst themselves.

…

"IS it something that is life threatening?" Tony asks me three days later while sitting on the edge my desk as I continue to look on my computer.

"What?" I ask him in confusion. I continue, "Oh. No but it is life changing."

"That doesn't answer anything," Tony complains while trying to look at my computer.

"Surely it gives you something that you don't already know," I state as I pick up my phone to make a call.

"Yeah, but nothing that will help me work it out," Tony complains as I dial a number into my phone.

"That's your problem," I state while smirking at him before dialling a number on my phone.

"Diva Dogs grooming, this is Cassy. How may I help you today?" Cassy answers the phone.

"Hello, Cassy. My name is Alice, I was wondering what you're availability's are for a small dog," I say into the phone.

"What do you want to done?"

"Clean, flea treatment and dye her ears red," I answer her while tapping my pen on the table.

"We'll be able to fit the dog in tomorrow morning. How does that sound to you?" Cassy asks me.

"Sounds good. What time?" I ask her.

"Eighty-thirty in the morning sound good for you?"

"Cool. See you then," I say while writing the time and location down on a piece of paper.

"Does it have anything to do with ugly tony the second?" Ziva asks me as I hang the phone up.

"No, that is just a coincidences that I am making this call when you are trying to work this out," I state while bouncing my leg.

"How do we know where to look?" McGee asks me.

"You're investigators and have been for years. How do you know where to look at any case?" I ask him while taking a sip of coffee.

"Gibbs tells us what to do," McGee answers me.

"Jethro wasn't always here… I remember four months when he wasn't ordering you to do anything and yet we still court killers, kidnappers and Shepard," I remind them while leaning back in the chair and looking at them all.

"Can we work as a team?" Ziva asks me.

"I don't care. But even if you all work together, you still get only one question," I inform them making Tony look at me.

"Campfire," Tony calls out while walking over to his desk. Ziva and McGee roll over to him as he points at me as he continues, "Not you Alice… this is about you not with you."

"Have fun," I say with a smirk while watching them.

…

"What are you doing to my team?" Gibbs asks me as cooks dinner tonight. He is wearing an old NIS sweatshirt with jeans with a tea towel over his shoulder. A man shouldn't look as good as he does in that outfit. I am wearing a white singlet with black jeans from earlier today. I had taken my bra and shoes off when we got home.

"Nothing," I say innocently while looking over my shoulder at him as I set the table and step around ugly tony the second.

"Alice, baby, I love you but you are a lier," Gibbs states making me smirk at him. He continues, "What are you paying at?"

"I just gave them a challenge to see how good of an investigator they are," I promise him while turning around to face him.

"Anything I can help you with?" Gibbs asks me with a smirk of his own. Making me laugh at her.

"Anything, Jethro?" I ask him with a smirk while moving closure to him.

"What do you have on your mind?" Gibbs asks me while I rub my hand against his chest.

"Well," I mumble before leaning in and kissing him. I stand on my tiptoes while grabbing the back of his head and pull him closure. I continue to kiss him as he runs his hand down my back.

"Alice, I'm cooking," Gibbs mumbles while pulling away from me.

"So?" I ask him as I lean closure to him.

"I don't want to burn dinner… and you need to eat," Gibbs states while pulling away making me pout at her.

"But I'm not hungry," I complain.

"Not for food, it would seem but you still have to eat," Gibbs informs me while removing the steak from the pan and onto the plates. He puts some peas, corn, carrot and mashed potato before carrying the two plates over to the table.

"Thanks," I mumble while sitting down and taking the second plate off of him.

"Welcome," Gibbs says while sitting down and beginning to eat the food off of his plate. We eat in silence like normal. No matter what everyone thinks, Gibbs is a good cook, no mater what he is cooking. I watch as he cuts the fat off of his steak before handing it to ugly tony the second who is waiting patiently beside his chair. I hid a smile behind another forkful of food because he is a big softy, and loves my dog almost as much as I do.

Once we finish dinner, I get up and grab the plate and take them to the sink. I scrap the leftover food into ugly tony the second's food dish before putting them into the sink. I turn the tape onto hot and fill the sink with water before washing the dishes and handing them to Gibbs who dries them before putting them away.

"So what is the challenge you have my team?" Gibbs asks me while putting one of the plates into the cupboard.

"To work out why I am being secretive. You think they are smart enough?" I ask him with a smirk while letting the water out after I clean the last pot.

"Guess we will have to see," Gibbs says to me with a smirk.

"You're no fun," I complain while turning to face him.

"Yeah?" Gibbs asks me while pinning me between him and the bench behind me.

"You plan to prove me wrong?" I ask him with a smirk while grabbing his sweater in my hand.

"Maybe," Gibbs whispers in my ear before kissing behind it gently. He gently suck on the spot behind my ear before kissing down my neck slowly. I grab the back of his head and pull him closure to my neck.

"Jethro," I moan as he continues to kiss my neck.

"You want to take this to the bedroom?" Gibbs mumbles against my neck.

"Mm-hmm," I mumble as he continues to kiss my neck.

"Come on, baby," Gibbs mumbles while moving away from me with a smirk on his face when he releases I'm not paying attention to my surroundings at the moment. Gibbs continues to smirk at me as he grabs my hand and begin to pull me out of the kitchen and towards the stairs.

…

"What are you thinking about?" Gibbs asks me as I sit on the couch pretending to read a book but I am more lost in my head. Gibbs is watching TV with his feet resting on the table. I am resting my feet on his lap. it is the first day we have gotten off in ages and we are using it to just relax. I am wearing an old NIS sweet

shirt and panties, while Gibbs is wearing a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

"Nothing," I answers Gibbs without thinking about it.

"Alice, you are still a bad liar," Gibbs says to me while squeezing my leg.

"I know," I mumble while brushing some of my hair behind my ear.

"So what's on your mind?"

"Abby wants to know when we're getting married but you haven't even mentioned it since you proposed… you don't regret asking me to marry you do you?" I ask him softly.

"No, of course not… but we have the rest of our lives to worry about getting married. You were shocked enough about me asking you to marry me, I didn't want to rush you. Guess I was afraid you would change your mind," Gibbs admits while turning on the chair to face me. He continues to talk while rubbing my leg, "Have you thought about the wedding? Or your just asking because Abby is asking you?"

"I don't know," I admit while running my hand through my hair as I think about it.

"Stuff like this doesn't normally get you thinking. What's going on?"

"I… every time I close my eyes, I see your dead body on that pier. What if you didn't wake up?" I admit while looking at him. I continue, "I don't want to feel like I missed out on something because I wanted too long… I love you and I almost lost you… I can't lose you too."

"Alice, I'm not going anywhere… we have all the time in the world," Gibbs promises me while pulling me closure to him and into his lap.

"You were dead on the pier," I mumble while wrapping my arm around his chest.

"But I'm not dead. I am right here," Gibbs whispers to me while rubbing my hair out of her face.

"You could have been," I mumble as I snuggle closure into his chest.

"I know… I'll try to think more so that I don't scare you," Gibbs mumbles into my hair.

"We both know that is a lie," I laugh into his chest making his chuckle at me.

"I can try," Gibbs promises me while rubbing my back.

"But that's not you," I mumble into his chest as I enjoy this closeness that I almost lost.

"It can be for you," Gibbs mumbles to me.

"I don't want you to change… that's not the way to live or love," I state.

"I love you baby and I will do anything for you," Gibbs promise me while tilting my head back and placing a gently kiss on my lip. He continues, "Now, have you thought about the wedding or do you just want to go to the courthouse and get it over with?"

"I want my family to be there if I am going to throw my sex life away," I state making Gibbs laugh at me.

"Come on, baby. Your sex life doesn't end with marriage," Gibbs promise me.

"Right… which one of your weddings didn't end the sex life?" I ask him making him laugh at me again.

"My first one… and the last one I am planning to every have," Gibbs answers me before gently kissing me on my lip.

"No matter what anyone says, you are a romantic at heart," I mumble to him making him laugh at me before turning his attention back to his old western movie.

"Mm-hmm," Gibbs hums while continuing to watch the movie without releasing my.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," I promise him while grabbing the book and continuing to really read the book while thinking about the wedding.

What season do I want to marry in? what day do I want to be married? Where do I want to be married? There are too many options but I am sure we can work it out.


	17. Designated target

**_I am so sorry that I haven't updated more often but I just couldn't write… I would sit in front of my computer and write but not like it. I have written and then deleted hundreds of possible chapter because they seemed half asses. I apologies but I won't promise I will be any better. At the moment written doesn't seem to bring me the joy it used too. I hope that goes away soon but I don't know_**

 ** _I hope you enjoy this chapter and are safe in this uncertainty time. And not going too crazy if you are stack at home. I am luckily still working and haven't even taken one day off because of this pandemic._**

 ** _What are you all doing if you are stuck at home? Anything fun?_**

"No, no, no, it is not you, it's just… well, you know, these things run their course. And, well, you must accept it," Ziva says into her phone while walking into the squad room as Tony comes the other way. I am wearing a white singlet with a black jeans. I also have some low heels boots, the boots come up to my knees.

"Personal call, David?" Tony asks her.

"Yes. Go away," Ziva answers him while covering her phone.

"Somebody being dumped?" Tony teases her.

"Tony, leave Ziva alone," I order him without looking up from my computer.

"Oh," Ziva begins while walking around behind her desk. She covers the phone again before asking, "How do you tell someone you no longer want to see him?"

"Easy," Tony answers her before snatching the phone and leaving a shocked Ziva behind as he says, "Listen, dirtbag, this is Ziva's husband. I have your phone number now. I can find your address. If you ever try to contact her again, I will reach down your throat grab your intestines, rip them out and drive over your head! Lose this number or lose your life." Tony then hangs the phone up while turning to face Ziva who has gotten over her shock and is chasing him. He states, "You're welcome."

"That was my aunt Nettie from Tel Aviv. She was trying to stop seeing her eighty-six-year-old mah-jong partner," Ziva explains to him in surprise while looking at her phone.

"Why didn't you stop me?" Tony asks her.

"Why is it her job to stop you from doing stupid things? Because no one will be able to stop that," I comment while opening and reading a letter that Maddie sent me. The girl seems happier now that she has left back to her hometown, and she has no stalker.

"To stunned," Ziva answers to Tony while giving me a look.

"Where to I send flowers?" Tony asks Ziva.

"IF you ever communicate with her again, I will kill you," Ziva threatens him while turning and walking back to her desk.

"Is it always this bright in here?" McGee asks while walking into the squad room with sun-glasses on and acting all cool.

"Wait a second. I recognize that look. You had sex, and I'm guessing it was with a girl," Tony exclaims while turning to face McGee.

"Tony, McGee can have sex with a man if he wants to," I state. I continue, "Are you going to do anything today? Or are you just going to be annoying?"

"No," McGee states while walking away.

"No, it wasn't a girl?" Tony asks him in confusion while ignoring me.

"No, it's none of your business," McGee corrects him while walking over to his desk and taking his jacket off.

"If the probie was probing last night, I demand details," Tony exclaims while Ziva begins to come back over.

"I don't… I have heard about your sex life Tony and I didn't want to… the only sex life I want to hear or know about is my own… so no, no details," I state while looking up.

"Actually it was this morning," McGee informs us while removing the glasses and sitting down. Ziva and Tony look surprised while I feel disgusted, I hope he at least showered. He continues, "And it wasn't sex, it was coffee. And it was good."

"The coffee or the sex?" Ziva asks him.

"It can't be good coffee or Jethro would have been in a good mood for the whole time I have known him," I state while taking a sip of my own coffee.

"It wasn't sex. I met a nice girl, we're hitting it off, that's all," McGee defends himself.

"That's nice. Where did you meet?" Tony demands of him.

"Moved into my building a few days ago right across the hall."

"Proximity, that's convenient."

"Very," Ziva agrees with a hum while walking back to her desk

"Wow. McGee is getting some," Tony calls out making me laugh at her.

"Get it out of your head, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders him while walking into the room and smacks Tony on the back of his head. Gibbs is where a white undershirt with a green t-shirt and a black suit jacket, and he is carrying a cup of coffee as he walks over to his desk. He begins to get his gear while informing us, "Gear up, we got a dead one."

"You know, repeated head trauma causes brain damage!" Tony exclaims as we grab our bags and Tony turns to face Gibbs.

"There can only be brain damages if there is a brain to begin with," I inform state while walking away from my desk as I clip my gun onto my belt.

"Explains a lot," McGee overlaps me.

"Is this side of my head bigger?" Tony asks while pointing to the side that Gibbs always hits.

"Yes, but so is the other side," Ziva asks him as Gibbs and I walk past him as I smirk at Ziva for her answer.

…

"Bonnie and Clyde," Tony comment while Ziva takes photo of the two men on the ground next to the yellow taxi in the park. We are all waring out NCIS windbreakers and gloves as we work this crime scene.

"Who and what?" Ziva asks him while .

"It's a movie. Nineteen-sixty-seven, Warren Beatty. Faye Dunaway. It's a classic tale of crime and punishment," Tony comments while walking around with her. Gibbs is writing in his notebook while McGee is looking at the briefcase on the ground and I am drawing the crime scene sketch.

"Focus on this crime scene, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders him while walking closure to Tony and Ziva.

"Nine millimetre cartridges," Ziva comments while photographing them.

"It's not a robbery," Tony comments from within the cabs front seat. He looks back at us while informing us, "Cash box is still under the seat."

"Credit cards are here, too," McGee adds while checking the wallets. Ducky walks over to us and Gibbs almost walks into him while walking around the crime scene. McGee continues as Gibbs walks over to look over the shoulder, "Rear Admiral Kenneth Kirkland. And the driver's name… 'A-tife'?"

"Atif Nukunda," Ziva reads out while looking over his shoulder too.

"Gesundheit," Tony says to her as they all stand up and Ziva walks away.

"Address is listed as DC," McGee states while handing the license to Gibbs.

"Tire tracks. Single alignment, looks like a motorcycle. Top choice of assassins who often dump their weapons," Ziva comments while kneeling down next to the tire track.

"Look, Ziva," Gibbs orders her while kneeling next to the body making her get up and walk away from us to find the weapon.

"Dad?" I ask him as he comes to look at the two bodies.

"Well, this was no traffic accident," Ducky comments as McGee and I begin to bag the evidences know that it is photo'd and drawn.

"No kidding," Gibbs says while standing you.

"Little doubt they were killed here. Cause of death, multiple gunshots. Any one of which could have been fatal."

"Time?" Gibbs asks Ducky who is kneeling next to the closest body.

"That's not gonna be a problem. onboard digital surveillance camera, probably time-stamped," Tony informs us while turning to face us.

"Let's see it, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders him while walking around the bodies to the car. Tony looks at the car while gasping for air making me smirk at his misfortune. He continues, "What?"

"There a problem, Tony?" I ask him while continuing to smirk.

"Well, I… McGee has the cable," Tony stutters out.

"McGee," Gibbs calls out while signalling for McGee to come over.

"Normally I have the cable, but McGee has the other bag," Tony stutters out as McGee stands up and walks over. McGee gets into the car and plugs into the camera, he gets out of the car and pulls his phone out of his pocket as I walk over.

"Recorded straight onto a flash drive, probably on a fifteen minute loop," McGee states as we walk over and look over his shoulder. He continues, "Let's see the last recoded image here." Gibbs covers the top of the phone from the sun as we watch the video of the rear admiral in the cab on his phone. McGee informs us, "At nine twenty-three, first shot was fired. Cab crashed seven seconds later."

"A turkey shoot," Ziva comments as we watch them pull the two people out of the cab.

"Fish in a barrel," I comment.

"DiNozzo, find out where the admiral was coming from, headed to, who knew about it… and if any of those files are missing," Gibbs orders tony while writing in his book.

"All right, I'll take care," Tony mumbles while walking away from the scene.

"IS that lipstick on your collar, McGee?" Gibbs asks him while rubbing the back of his collar.

"Well," McGee begins while looking at Gibbs.

"Good for you, Tim. Good for you," Gibbs says while walking away from McGee. He continues making me laugh with his advice, "Just don't ever get married."

"Hello?" McGee answers his phone before walking away from the crime scene while saying, "I didn't order a sofa… yeah, that's my credit card number."

…

"Rear admiral Kirkland's credited with several innovative efficiency programs at the pentagon. He was involved in developing the ready-rapid deployment model for moving massive amounts of assets with minimum delays," Tony informs us in the squad room while walking over to the plasma screen above my desk with the paper printouts in her hand. Gibbs and I turn to look at the plasma screen.

"Possible target for terrorists?" I ask him.

"Admiral hasn't left dry land since oh-two. Not exactly a high-value al-Qaeda target."

"Any admiral is a high-value target," Ziva informs us while sitting at her desk with her feet on her desk.

"Taxi?" Gibbs demands of McGee while walking over to the other plasma screen.

"Kirkland was heading from home to attend a budget meeting at the GAO," McGee informs him while standing up and looking at the map on the screen.

"No government car?" I ask him in surprise while walking over to them.

"Broke down on fourteenth street. His aide stayed with the car, admiral called a cab," McGee informs us while putting it on the map. Where he was in his car is in green while the cab ride is in blue.

"Why go through the park?" Gibbs asks him while walking back to his desk.

"Three car pile-up on Connecticut. The cabdriver was probably trying to make up time," Tony informs him as Gibbs faces him.

"Sabotage?" Gibbs asks while walking over to Ziva.

"No, we checked the pentagon surveillance tapes. Nobody touched the car before it left to pick him up," Ziva reports to him.

"Files?"

"Staff checked his briefcase. Nothing was missing," Tony reports.

"Personal?"

"No enemies, loving family, devoted wife. No large insurance policies," Ziva states.

"No motive," I finish for him while rolling my head to make my neck crack… we have less than nothing.

"Every murder has a motive, Alice," Ziva comments.

"Not this one," Tony says.

…

"I thought you quit," Gibbs comments when we walk into the lab to see Abby sucking down the caf-pows, more than normal.

"I thought you quit NCIS but that didn't happen either, Jethro," I remind him as he grabs the empty cup to throw away from her.

"I did. It's no caffeine. No kick. I can suck down, like a half dozen babies, no ill effect," Abby informs us with a grin before putting the cup down and walking over to us while saying, "Gibbs, I'm steel." She then leans down and sniffs Gibbs coffee making me laugh at her. he stands up while exclaiming and moving to the computer, "No, I am okay. I'm better than okay. Way better. From the taxi. Bullets, the slug on the right is a nine millimetre, full metal jacket, high velocity, you can see by its deformation that it went through metal, glass, whole she-bang."

"The other one?" I ask her.

"Also nine millimetres. But just a standard hollow-point. The striations on the rounds indicate that they were using silencers," Abby informs us quickly.

"Casings?" Gibbs asks her.

"Ejection port marks show that you're looking for a Glock or a Beretta," Abby informs us while walking over and picking up her caf-pow again. She turns to us and holds it out to Gibbs while saying, "You should really try this, Gibbs, Alice. It'll change your life."

"No. I have to deal with Tony and Ziva all day. I need my coffee or I might just kill them."

"Motorcycle?" Gibbs asks her making her put the cup down and walking over to her computer in the back office.

"The tread on the bike was only offered as an option on the Yamaha R-six series. No hits on sale records yet, indicating that the bike may have been purchased overseas and then brought across the border. All that, no caffeine," Abby informs us while showing us a photo of the bike we are looking for.

"Crime scene, Abby?" I ask her as Gibbs leans down to look at the computer. I lean onto the back of her chair.

"I'm working on some fresh oil drops that were found near the tire tracks."

"Cab took a detour. Mush have followed them," I state.

"Or they could've hacked into the taxi's onboard navigation system and were waiting. Ambush," Abby informs us while slowing down the closure Gibbs coffee gets to her. She finally asks him, "Okay… can I have one little teeny-tiny baby booster sip? Please?"

"No," Gibbs answers her.

"Thank you, sire."

"Welcome," Gibbs overlaps her. He turns to leave while yelling out, "McGee, garage. Now."

…

"Boss, the navigation system was definitely hackable. All they would've need was the car's VIN number and the owner's address. They could have requested a diagnostic test, then captured and cloned the signal," McGee informs us from the computer he has hooked up to the cab. Tony and Ziva are standing with McGee as Gibbs walks around the car and I am leaning against the desk while sipping on a coffee.

"Who hacked it?" Gibbs demands of them.

"No way to tell. The signal doesn't ghost, and there's no recording GPS markers after the fact," McGee informs him.

"Does anyone have answers?" Gibbs demands of us angrily.

"Ziva?" Tony places the blame on someone else.

"No," Ziva answers him in confusion.

"Ziva doesn't have any answers boss," Tony states.

"No shit Sherlock," I state as Gibbs phone begin to ring.

"Yeah, Duck. I'm on my way up," Gibbs says while walking away and I begin to follow him. Gibbs scans his eye to open the elevator before turning and ordering his team, "You look into the cab company." we step into the elevator as McGee's begin to ring.

"This case is going nowhere. Fast," I complain.

"Yeah," Gibbs agrees with me while I push the button for autopsy.

"We'll work it out. We always do," I comment while leaning against Gibbs.

"Yeah," Gibbs agrees with me with a smirk before stealing my coffee and stepping away from me, making me pout at him.

"Hey, that's mine," I complain while reaching for my coffee but he just holds it above his head.

"Not anymore," Gibbs informs me as the elevator arrives at autopsy. He quickly steps out while drinking the last of my coffee and throwing the cup away.

"What have you got, dad?" I ask Ducky as we walk into autopsy to see him holding a bullet.

"Bullet from the frontal lobe of your rear admiral. Yeah, both bodies received multiple rounds from a ranges of angles," Ducky informs us while tagging the bullets.

"Indicating?" Gibbs asks him while walking over and looking at the admiral's body.

"The first projectiles struck them after deflected off metal or glass. And they were followed by two close contact wounds with stippling, indicating that they were shot execution style," Ducky informs us.

"Okay. Is that it?" I ask him as Gibbs looks over his shoulder.

"No, no, no. come here. Take a look at this," Ducky says while leading us over to the taxi drive.

"What am I looking at?" Gibbs asks as Ducky opens the driver's mouth and points to the lower teeth.

"Between the second bicuspid and second molar, lower left."

"The missing tooth?" I ask him in confusion.

"Freshly extracted. And the lack of bleeding around the gum tissue indicates that it was post-mortem. There was no tooth in his throat or in his stomach, so he didn't swallow it. And there was no tooth at the crime scene," Ducky informs us while releasing the guy's head.

"They pulled his tooth?" Gibbs asks him.

"That is just wrong," I complain.

"Well, they could have used a pair of pliers. It's a crude if effective means of extraction."

"Anything taken from our admiral?" I ask him.

"No, no, no, no, but I found something really interesting on the driver's right hand," Ducky informs us while walking over to the lights and turning them off making me jump… I don't like autopsy in the dark since Ari. He shines a light onto the fingers of the driver while I grab the back of Gibbs shirt tightly.

"What is that?" Gibbs asks him in confusion.

"Abby run the analysis. It's a fingerprint salve. Invisible until it's pressed on paper."

"Fingerprints and tooth pulp DNA. Two of the best ways to identify a body… I don't like this Jethro," I mumble.

"Yeah, your rear admiral wasn't the target, Jethro."

"No. The cabdriver was," Gibbs comments while thinking about it. We have been working this case all wrong.

…

"Dead driver name was Atif Nukunda. Immigrated here seven years ago from Burundi, in east Africa, after his name was found on a death squad list," Tony informs us while McGee puts the license onto the plasma screen between Tony and his desk.

"A political refugee," Ziva adds.

"Employment records show he worked two jobs. Cabs and pizza delivery driver, about eighty-five hours a week," Tony informs us while McGee puts up the hour sheets for both jobs.

"Land of opportunity," Ziva adds.

"Check his address," Gibbs orders us.

"Metro police have been there, done that. Vacant lot," Tony reports to Gibbs.

"Attacks on other cabdrivers in the past sixty days?"

"Already working on it," Ziva answers him while backing up and walking over to her desk.

"DiNozzo, check out the cab company," Gibbs orders him while walking back over to his desk.

"Go to, boss," Tony says while walking over to his desk. We all stop moving and stare at him as Gibbs turns to face him. Tony begins to ramble, "'Go to.' It's the new 'on it.' New catchphrase, just came up with it. You like it?"

"No," Gibbs answers him.

"Jethro, I think you might have finally gave him brain damage," I state while turning to face Gibbs. This was bound to happen with how many times Gibbs has hit Tony's head.

"Cab company?" Gibbs orders him.

"On it, boss," Tony says while grabbing his gun and walking away. Gibbs continues to his desk and put the file onto the top of it.

"Go, too," Gibbs orders Ziva. She gets up, grabs her stuff, and follows the idiot. Gibbs saying, "McGee, what do you got?"

"Well, boss, the time-stamped footage of the killing enabled us to track all cell calls made from the park in the two minutes after the shooting. Ten calls in all. One that stands out was a high-density bandwidth transmission, almost certainly a video file. Someone filmed the execution," McGee reports as Gibbs walks over to McGee's desk and stands on the other side of the desk.

"Snuff video?" I ask him while waling over to McGee's desk in surprise.

"Call was made from a pre-paid cell phone, then sent through a router in east Africa. Lost it there."

"Find it," Gibbs orders him while truing and walking back over to his desk where he sits down. I turn and walk over to my desk and sit down while login into my computer to get to work.

"Well, it went to a series of public pay phones, all of which were answered. Impossible to tell which line was actually the intended number. Whoever these guys are, boss, they're very good," McGee informs us. He looks at him while raises an eye before continuing, "But so are we."

…

"There's definitely a photo missing," Abby says while cutting into the drivers wallet in the lab.

"Any way to tell what was there?" I ask her as Gibbs leans in watching her closely from the other side of the table she is working against.

"Would I have you down here to watch me fail?" Abby asks me making me laugh at her. She continues to work the on the wallet while informing us what she is doing, "Silver bromide particles on any positive prints leave minute traces on any surface when they're combined with compression and heat, like, say, a wallet being sat on for ten hours a day in a hot taxi." Gibbs walks around the desk while grabbing my hand and dragging me around to stand and look over her shoulder. She continues, "Abby-cadabra, your picture from the cadaver. That's sad. Why would they take the family photo?"

"More proof they got the right guy," I inform her as Gibbs walks back around the table while I stay put.

"Any good news?" Gibbs asks her.

"Yes, the oil, not from the taxi but from the motorcycle. I was able to determine the exact viscosity and degradation, and I found microscopic metal shaving in it," Abby exclaims to him.

"Trace the bike?" Gibbs asks her.

"Well, not exactly… well, actually, not at all, but if you find the motorcycle, then I can positively place it at the murder scene."

"Unless they change the oil," I correct her.

"Unless they change the oil," Abby agrees with me. He reaches under the table and grabs two cups of coffee while handing me one before holding one out to Gibbs, "This si a gift for you. It's decaf… I sleep at night. I actually eat food. It is so weird, you've got to try it." Gibbs looks at the cup she gave him that she has drawn on before walking around the desk again and picking up her bin.

"Abs. Don't let that hurt your feelings," Gibbs says while throwing away the 'coffee' in his hand. He then kisses her check making her pout at him.

"Don't take it personally, he's just grumpy," I inform her making the smile at me.

"Why is he grumpy?" Abby asks he with a grin.

"Does it matter?" I ask her with a grin before leaving the lab.

…

"Okay, triangulating all traffic from the towers closest to Café Butu, narrowing it down to all outgoing calls the time Abaka made his call," McGee rambles while typing on his computer when Tony and Ziva arrived back at the squad room. On the plasma screen between Tony and McGee's desk is showing the phone towers and where they cover, we are all watching as Gibbs paces around the squad room.

"Less narration, McGee," Gibbs orders him while walking over to behind me and standing there.

"Tracing," McGee comments while continuing to type on his computer, putting up a lot of computer nerd information on the plasma screen.

"Look at that," Tony says while watching McGee work.

"Wow. Someone at NCIS actually working," I comment making Tony look at me as Gibbs moves over to look at what the computer geek is doing.

"It's incredible. Probie's lips are still moving while he's working. He's like one of those Romanian orphans who can't stop rocking," Tony comments while glaring at me before starting to rock back and forth with a grin on his face.

"You are so prejudiced," Ziva informs him making him not grin.

"I am not. I'm not," Tony defends himself making me roll my eyes. They are annoying sometimes, he continues, "BY the way, that's a contraction: 'I'm.' You should try it sometimes."

"Got it," McGee exclaims before looking at his watch and grinning while saying, "Ahh. Beat my old record by two seconds." Gibbs give me the raised eyebrow looking making him add, "Cell number is listed to Delphin Abaka of Georgetown."

"Who'd he call?" Gibbs demands while getting up and walking over to the plasma screen.

"The Wilmont Hotel, room 234. Currently occupied by a Sayda Zuri," McGee informs us while pulling up the hotel information.

"African," Tony comments.

"Accessing immigration files," McGee says while continuing to type at his computer.

"Probably Burundian," Ziva adds.

"Cabdriver's wife maybe?" Tony guess.

"She came through customs two days ago from Burundi. Restricted travel visa," McGee informs us while putting the photo of the lady on the screen.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs orders.

"Picking her up, boss," Tony says while turning around as Gibbs walks back over to his desk and calling out, "Found her." We all turn and face her as she walks into he squad room.

"I have come to claim my husband's body," Sayda Zuri informs us making us all blink at her in surprise.

…

I stand down in autopsy with Ducky as Ziva lead Sayda Zuri down into the room. We stand around the door and Ducky opens it, he pulls the bed out with the victim on the bed. He continues to pull the sheet down.

"No, this is not Thomas," Sayda Zuri informs us making us all look at the victim then back to her.

"Yes, well, there's considerable swelling," Ducky attempts to explain.

"May I see his body?" she cuts him off. Ducky looks down before lowing the sheet making her exclaim, "Thomas was tortured. This man has no scars. No. this is not my husband."

…

"You gotta be kidding me. Fifteen thousand dollars? Twenty five," McGee gasp out as he grabs his desk phone while staring at his computer in the squad room tonight.

"Something wrong, McGee?" Gibbs asks him as he walks back into the squad room.

"Computer glitch," McGee lies while hanging up the phone making Gibbs hit the monitor.

"Better?" Gibbs asks him making Tony look at him in surprise making me laugh at the idiot team.

"Much," McGee continues to lie.

"Where's Ziva?" Gibbs asks while walking further into the squad room to see that she is the only one not out her desk.

"Right behind you," Ziva answers him making him turn to face her. she continues to explain, "There has been eleven attacks on cabdrivers in the past sixty days ion the DC and Maryland area. Three of them are very interesting."

"DiNozzo, put them up," Gibbs orders him while walking over to the plasma above my desk and stealing my coffee, he takes a big drink of my coffee.

"All three were shot with a nine-millimetre. And all three autopsies showed a tooth missing," Ziva reports while Tony puts the files onto the plasma making me get up and walk around my desk so I can see them but the photos are tiny.

"Can you make it bigger Tony?" I ask him while squinting at the plasma screen. Tony begins to type on his computer only to making the plasma glitch and then turn itself off.

"Come on. Tell me you just didn't lose all that information," Gibbs demands of Tony while turning to face him.

"McGee!" Tony hisses at him in confusion making McGee get up and walk over to Tony's computer. When McGee is over there he continues, "I hit the space bar."

"Just push the buttons I tell you to push, monkey," McGee hisses at him while working on fixing what Tony broke.

"Love is not treating you well, my friend," Tony hisses at him.

"Yeah, no kidding," McGee says while fixing the computer and the plasma screen. He pulled up the files and the photo big enough for us to see them.

"Bring up our John Doe from the morgue," Gibbs orders them making Tony open his mouth and then close it before McGee places the photo with the other three men.

"Anybody see what I am looking at?" I ask them as Gibbs takes a big sip of my coffee.

"Black males," Ziva begins.

"All in their mid to late forties," McGee adds.

"All local cabdrivers. None of them work for the same company, though," Tony finishes.

"Vitals," Gibbs orders making McGee in large that part of the file.

"Similar age, similar height, similar weight… they all have shaved heads and facial hair," Ziva states as McGee walks over to us.

"Bad guys don't know exactly what their target looks like now. They only have a general description," Tony comments from his desk.

"Seven years. Ong time. People change," Gibbs comments while looking at the information and drinking my coffee.

"Would explain the teeth pulling and the video," McGee comments while looking at Gibbs.

"DiNozzo. How many cabdrivers in DC fit this general description?" Gibbs asks Tony while turning to face him.

"I'd say dozens," Tony says while walking over to us.

…

"Thomas was a storekeeper. He had no interest in politics. But his words were so eloquent, so passionate, that his message spread from village to village. He became a symbol of hope against a system of injustice and corruption. Extremists saw him as a threat. Privately, many in the government did not care if he died," Sayda Zuri informs us as we talk into in the conference room with Shepard pacing around making me glare watch her. I don't trust her, Shepard not Sayda. Ziva is sitting next to Sayda. Today I am wearing black skin-tight jeans with a red singlet and a transparent black shirt that falls to my elbows, stopping halfway down my torso. I also have my jeans tucked into my combat boot and my horse belt.

"That was seven years ago," Shepard begins making me roll my eyes at her. she continues, "What's changed?"

"There is a growing movement against the old way. Some people are openly calling for him to return and lead the new people's party. His enemies fear he will do exactly that. I have been told they have sent people here to kill him," Sayda informs us while Gibbs pours her a glass of water.

"Came to warn him," Gibbs comments.

"Yes," Sayda comments.

"How id your husband get here?" Shepard demands of him.

"He was smuggled out of the country by your embassy in Burundi."

"Our government brought him here?"

"Yes. You see, Thomas was pro-American. They is why the extremists hate him."

"Why did you stay?" Ziva ask her.

"I could not leave my family, miss. My family was dying. Thomas felt that if he left, the extremists would no longer be threatened by him. He was right. They left me alone. he was right. A year after he left, I received this," Sayda informs us while pulling a letter out of her bra. Gibbs walks over to her and takes the letter and looks it over.

"No postmark," I comment while looking it over too.

"It was smuggled to me by the embassy. He writes that he's working in Washington, driving a taxi. That he misses me. That he wants me to join him in America," Sayda informs us as Gibbs reads the letter.

"And then?" Shepard demands of her making me glare at her, she could be more understanding... just because she has never found love doesn't mean that no one else can.

"And then there was another civil war. I never received another letter. The embassy could no longer help me. And now they have come for him," Sayda informs us. She grabs Gibbs hands before continuing, "I know men like these. They will not stop until they are sure my husband is dead."

"We need something from you," Shepard states.

"Anything."

"The name of the embassy official who helped him get away."

…

"Are you aware that I no longer work for the state department, director?" Mr Choyce, the embassy official who helped Thomas escape, says while sitting across from Shepard at the conference table in her office with Gibbs and I sitting on her case.

"Mr Choyce, are you aware that the state department and NCIS are part of the same government?" Shepard asks her.

"I doubt if there's anything I can do to help you."

"You smuggled Thomas Zuri out of Burundi seven years ago. You set him up in DC. Gave him a new identity," Shepard informs him while showing him a seven years old photo.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Mr Choyce lies.

"Talking about saving a life," Gibbs informs him.

"Maybe several," I add on.

"I wish I could help," Mr Choyce informs us while attempting to stand up.

"Sit down. You're not done yet," Gibbs snaps at him.

"You're a consultant now with an Asian-based oil company. what do you think would happen to your value in the private sector if I were to call Z-N-N, and tell them you refused to help us solve a murder of a united states naval officer? An admiral," Shepard informs him.

"Off the record," Mr Choyce demands of us, making Shepard know. He continues, "Zuri walked away. Happens all the time. Once we get a political asset into the country, we hold onto them in case we need them in the future. Zuri was very helpful. But often the assets don't like the restrictions, so they leave the program. We have no control over that. Zuri left. That was five years ago."

"How do we find him?" Shepard demands of him.

"Anything I tell you is a violation of the agreement we had with him."

"I'm sure he'll understand."

"I don't know where he is," Mr Choyce informs us while getting p and walking over to the table.

"Last known address," Gibbs demands of him while sitting onto the table and leaning into Mr Choyce's personal space.

"Look, he changed his address often. All I could give you is where I know he lived five years ago. Do you understand?"

…

"Stop laughing. It's not funny," McGee hisses into his phone where he is hiding next to the stairs.

"What's bit funny, McGee?" Gibbs demands of McGee as we walk up beside him.

"Nothing. Personal," McGee says while trying not to get in trouble with Gibbs.

"Well, don't tell me about it," Gibbs says slightly insulted while moving towards the squad room. He cares about his team as if we are his family but they are to scared of him to ask for help and that hurts him more than he will ever say. McGee follows Gibbs who informs him, "I want you to visit the state department's strategic analysis unit."

"Visit? I'm going to need clearance," McGee informs him in confusion.

"Visit," Gibbs and I repeat making him catch on.

"Visit, that kind of visit. Okay. What exactly am I looking for?" McGee asks as a grinning Gibbs follow him over to his desk.

"Oil… in Burundi," Gibbs answer him while leaning on the back of the chair as I walk over to me desk and watch them both.

"Don't think there's oil in Burundi," McGee comment.

"That's why I want you to look," Ginn informs him while hitting the top of the chair twice before walking off to his desk.

"I'm running the last known address for Thomas Zuri," I inform Gibbs while typing it into my computer.

…

"Boss. I did that thing you told me to do," McGee whispers to Gibbs as he walks back into the squad room with a coffee and an apple he is throwing and catching.

"You don't have to whisper, McGee. I don't care who hears," Gibbs informs him while sitting at his desk and putting the apple and coffee down.

"You want me to tell you," McGee begins.

"Nope," Gibbs cuts him off while walking over to the plasma between Tony and McGee's desk.

"'Cause I could give you the short," McGee continues making Gibbs use the Gibbs glare. McGee continues, "Forget I asked." He puts the photos onto the plasma screen while reporting, "Classified satellite recon photos of a petroleum exploration firm linked to China, doing drilling in the Dajee region of Burundi."

"Find anything?" I ask him as Gibbs moves over and leans on the back of his chair.

"Considering the money they're poured into the region I'd say yes."

"Oil," Gibbs comments.

"Guess who still has top-level clearance in the state department?"

"Choyce. Still working for them?" I ask.

"Not as an employee, but as a consultant."

"Plausible deniability," Gibbs comments while walking over to his desk. He questions me, "You run that address Choyce gave us?"

"Yeah. It is a construction site… new condos. The original building was demolished two years ago. Zuri either moved or is already dead," I report to him while leaning back into my chair.

"Four driver, four different cab companies," Tony begins.

"Nothing in common?" McGee asks him.

"All attacked at different times of the day," Ziva reports.

"Time of death of the first driver?" Gibbs asks while walking back over to the plasma between Tony and McGee's desk.

"two-thirty in the morning. Which was ninety minutes after he clocked out," McGee reports while putting the victims photos and states back up.

"Second driver?" I ask him.

"Nine-forty-five in the evening. Two hours after he logged off."

"No of them were officially working when they were attacked," Tony comments what we are all releasing.

"Boss, in two of the attacks, the cabs had passengers. In each case, including the admiral's, the passengers called for a cab. They didn't just hail it on the street," McGee reports making Gibbs walk over and look over his shoulder at the computer screen.

"Meaning someone had to have dispatched it. Even if it was off the record," Ziva comments from her desk.

"Meaning Bayliss, the cab company dispatcher," Tony exclaims while moving over to his desk.

"He was working when every attack happened," McGee comments while looking it up. He continues, "Probably used a bypass to channel the calls."

"Bayliss did not report to work today," Ziva exclaims while hanging up her desk phone angrily.

"Address," Gibbs demands as we all get our gear to go.

"Yeah, got it," Gibbs exclaims as we leave.

…

Gibbs runs to the corner and points his gun around the corner, checking it is clear before McGee runs up to the next corner with Ziva covering him. Tony moves in front of them and cover the next spot, I run past him to the next spot and Gibbs moves to the other side of the door, I quickly follow him to the other side while the team with on the other side.

"NCIS. Warrant!" Gibbs yells out before nodding to Tony who kicks the door in. Tony enters first, then Ziva and McGee, then Gibbs and me. Gibbs stays in the main room while the rest of us spread out through the house.

"Clear," Tony calls out.

"Clear," McGee calls out a second later.

"DiNozzo. McGee," Gibbs calls out making them come over and move the bookcase he is shining his torch out. There is a box cut into the wall making the boys lift it out onto the table. "Ziva, pick it," Gibbs orders her.

"No problem," Ziva says while walking over and stepping onto the lock and breaking it off with the force she used. She opens it to show that it is full of money.

"Fives and tens. Curb cash," Tony comments.

"What's curb cash?" Ziva asks him in confusion.

"Fares. Small denominations. Street money," Tony explains to her.

"Kickbacks," McGee adds.

"Lollipop for Mc-lover-boy."

"Those real?" I ask Tony while looking at cab licenses.

"No. fakes. But they're really good fakes. Guy's a regular cab coyote," Tony comments while flicking through the licenses.

"Is that like a wolf in sheep's clothing?" Ziva asks him.

"Coyote's a person who exploits people who come to this country illegally," McGee explains to her.

"As opposed to outsourcing, which is what you are," Tony adds as a shell casing roll across the floor suddenly making us all look at it. The ceiling suddenly starts to creak and dust falls down on me making me move over to Gibbs and away from the falling ceiling. Gibbs wraps his arm around my shoulder while pulling me away from the ceiling dust that falls again. Suddenly the roof collapse, filling the room with dust, I begin to gasp for air as everyone else grabs their gun and aim at the man on the ground.

"That's Bayliss," Tony comments as I continue to gasp for air while attempting to get my inhaler out of my pocket but it seems to be stuck.

"Attic space. He must have been hiding," Ziva comments while aiming her gun into the roof as Tony moves to the victim.

"Been shot. Still warm, boss," Tony reports as I grab Gibbs arm and hold on tightly making him look at me before pulling one of my inhalers out of his pocket. Before moving over towards the window and looking out as I finally use my inhaler and attempt to get my breathing back under control again… I hate not being able to help the team because I can't breath.

…

"Boss, MPD shut down a twelve-block perimeter around Bayliss's apartment. Nothing. Got a BOLO out on the Yamaha," McGee reports while getting up and walking over to Gibbs as Gibbs walks into the squad room.

"Traffic cams?" Gibbs asks him while walking over to his desk and leaning over.

"Lost the bike after three blocks. He took side streets," McGee reports.

"How did they know about Bayliss?" Tony asks us.

"Same way we did?" I guess before adding, "Or he was working with them. He became a threat and they dealt with it."

"McGee, Choyce's bank records and personal files from state. Alice, find out who the hell Choyce called after he left here," Gibbs orders us making McGee move back to his desk while I begin to look into the phone records of this asshole. Gibbs continues, "DiNozzo?"

"Boss?" Tony asks him.

"Bring him in," Gibbs orders him before standing up and beginning to leave the room while ordering us, "Ziva, get Sayda."

"Yes?" McGee answers his ringing phone when there is just him and me in the squad room. He continues, "No, I told you I don't want to give you her name. I just want to cancel my credit cards."

"Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty," Abby mumbles while walking into the squad room making me look at her as she comes to a stop beside McGee's desk making me smirk at her, this si fun.

"Well, why would you send the IRS after me? I haven't done anything," McGee exclaims.

"McGee," Abby exclaims, making Gibbs look at her while hanging up the phone.

"Yeah?" McGee asks her.

"Did you know that it's three hundred and sixty-five steps from my lab to your desk?" Abby informs him. She continues while shaking her body, "trying to get my blood pumping. What's wrong with you?"

"He has a Tony-like problem," I informs her without looking up from my computer.

"Nothing," McGee lies to her making her turn to me with a grin at my comment.

"Okay, this si the new, caffeine-free, non-jittery Abby. Still waters. Deep. You're hiding something, and I seek it. Speak."

"I've been seeing this girl," McGee admits while turning to face her.

"That's nice," Abby informs him.

"No, actually, it's not nice. She stole my mail, and took out sixty-five thousand dollars in pre-approved credit cards in my name."

"Wow. You have really good credit."

"FICO score's seven hundred and fifty… well, was." **_(What is a FICO score? And how do you get it?)_**

"So, this is, like, the best worst love story ever?"

"Abby, what do I do? It's like I'm nuts for this girl, you know, and she's just… nuts."

"She stole your heart, she stole your money. Arrest her."

"That's the thing. That's what she wants. She admitted everything to me," McGee informs her while pulling a check out of his desk.

"That is a check for sixty-five thousand dollars."

"Yeah, her father's Earnest Leonard. He's worth billions. She does this for fun. She's been arrested twice. She steals people's money, she buys things."

"The crazy ones are the best," Abby informs him while handing back the check.

"As long as they aren't too crazy, don't need another stalker for this team… we are not going through that again," I speak up making them look at me and agree with me.

"See, the weird thing is… I kind of dig it, you know?" McGee admits while leaning closure to Abby.

"Okay, love is never having to read her, her Miranda rights. But she's going to do this to somebody else. Throw her psycho ass in the brig. I love you, McGee. That should be enough," Abby informs him before turning and counting her way back to the lab… she need to take up caffeine again, she is going crazier.

"McGee, you have to fix this and fix it correctly before Jethro has to get involved," I inform him making him node at me.

…

"Shall we try this again?" Shepard asks Choyce's in the integration room.

"Has something changed?" Choyce asks us.

"You might say that," I state from where I am sitting next to Shepard.

"Recognize these?" Shepard asks as I place his banking records on the table from the folder in front of me.

"My banking detail. This is outrageous. How did you get these?" Choyce demands of me.

"Warrant," Shepard answers him.

"We're not just pretty faces," I inform him.

"This is what we found," Shepard begins again. She lays the facts out, "Two deposits. One for a hundred thousand dollars. The second for a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. From a bank in Burundi. Now, we're still following the paper trail, but I think we all know where it's going to take us, don't we, Mr Choyce? To Burundi political extremists. With well-oiled pockets. You sold them information about Zuri."

"I want a deal before I say anything else," Choyce informs us making Gibbs half smirk at him, of course he does.

"First the truth. Then a deal," Shepard informs him.

"Look, I didn't sell them anything useful. It was information from years ago. Old addresses and phone numbers, that's all. He was paranoid! He moved six times in the first year!" Choyce informs us while laughing.

"Not so paranoid if the people who is supposed to protect him, sells him to the people trying to kill him," I state while tapping the file.

"Was one of these old phone numbers used by a taxi dispatcher named Bayliss?" Shepard demands of him.

"Zuri only drove cabs for a couple of months years ago. Then he quit," Choyce informs us.

"Wrong. He went gypsy, off the books. You gave them Bayliss's name. Bayliss is dead. Got to believe he told them where to find Zuri," Shepard lays it out for him.

"My god," he mumbles.

"Are you getting it yet?" I ask him before continuing, "We have four dead cabdrivers, three dead passages, one dead cab despatcher. How many more people are going to die because you wanted to make a little money?"

"How did you communicate with them?" Shepard asks him.

"They contacted me," Choyce informs us.

"By phone?"

"Pre-paid cell. They called me. Non-traceable. I tried," Choyce informs us.

"Bit heard to believe someone who has been lying to us the whole time," I state.

"Name," Gibbs demands of him. He hesitates making Gibbs move away from the wall he is leaning on while opening the door to walk out as he says, "Tie him to Burundi terrorism. Send him to Gitmo. No lawyer, no phone. Good luck with that deal."

"Delphon Abaka," Choyce informs us making Gibbs walk back into the integration room. He repeats himself.

…

"No luck, boss. Abaka's off the grid," McGee reports from his desk as Tony stands, looking over his shoulder.

"He's a damn teacher at a university, McGee," Gibbs reminds him while looking over his shoulder.

"Also served in the Burundi army twenty years ago and hasn't been teaching since last semester," McGee informs us.

"Guess when he realized we were involved, he tried to use Sayda to find out what we knew," Tony comments.

"We probably know less than he does," McGee adds.

"The DMV needs a thumbprint to get a driver's license," Gibbs exclaims while throwing the fake cab license onto the table in front of McGee.

"Means Zuri's in the system. If we can match his prints to DMV records, we can get his current alias and an address," McGee releases what Gibbs is saying, angrily.

"That's a nice try. If Zuri's still out there, he's got his fake hack license with him. I'm sorry, boss. I already looked," Tony informs us.

"I think I know where we can get a fingerprint. Sayda's locket," Ziva informs us.

…

Scanning," Abby comments as Gibbs, Ziva and I stand around her lab with Sayda as she scans the back of Sayda's photo of her and her husband. "Let's see what we got," Abby says while loading the photo. She manages to get the print off of it. She continues to informs us, "It's a partial right thumb. Degraded by age, but… I have enough whirls and deltas to get eight points."

"How long is this going to take, madam?" Sayda asks her.

"You know what? It's hard to tell," Abby informs us.

"Would you like your picture back?" I ask Sayda making her node. I lift up the copier and hand her back the photo to put it into her necklace.

"Tell, Abby," Gibbs orders her making me smile at the fact he is even more impatient than normal.

"Someone needs to switch to decaf," Abby mumbles making me laugh at her… that would be the day. She continues to explain to us, "Could be seconds, could be hours if he used his other thumb for his driver's license." The print fails to get a match making her say, "He's not in the DC system, or Virginia or Maryland. Do you want me to run all fifty states? It's getting really late," Abby mumbles while almost falling asleep standing making her add, "Not that I'm… tired or anything from a lack of caffeine, 'cause I'm not." She continues to talk but it comes out as a muffled, mumble, "At all. Really. My meter is running full blast, Gibbs." Gibbs holds his coffee under her noise, waking her back up. He walks around her and grabs her hand, placing his coffee into it.

"Relax, Abs. I think you just solved the case."

"I did?" Abby asks him in surprise as he releases her hand and grabs mine, to pull me out of the lab to the elevator.

"What are you thinking?" I ask him while leaning onto his chest.

"That you shouldn't wear those jeans at work," Gibbs answers me with a smirk.

"What is wrong with my jeans?" I ask him in fake offence.

"They will give little boys ideas," Gibbs informs me.

"What about you?"

"I'm not a little boy."

"NO, nothing about you is little," I state while leaning up and placing a kiss on his lips.

"Don't forget it," Gibbs state as the doors open and he walks out while holding my hand. We walk over to the squad room where Tony and McGee are sitting. Gibbs calls out, "Meters."

"A form of measurement used extensively in Europe," Tony answers him smartly.

"Taxi meters, DiNozzo," Gibbs corrects him while sitting down at his desk.

"Bayliss keep meter records for gypsy drivers?" I ask him while moving over to my desk and sitting down.

"Sure. Without records, he wouldn't be able to keep track of kickbacks," Tony comments.

"Bayliss's laptop. Every driver who hasn't reported to work for the past seventy-two hours. I'm only interested in meters that are not running," Gibbs orders him.

"I don't follow. But I'm willing to give it a try," McGee admits while typing into his computer.

"I get it. Zuri heard about other cabdrivers being attacked. He knows they're after him," Tony explains.

"So he would have stopped driving after the first attack," McGee releases what Gibbs is getting at.

"Put it up, please," I state while pointing to the plasma above my desk.

"Dumping all females, non-African-Americans, everyone over fifty and under thirty," McGee comments as I get up and walk around to look at the squad room.

"Match the rest against our victims' stats," Gibbs orders him.

"Five left, boss," McGee informs us while pulling up the photos.

"Sayda," I call her as her and Ziva arrive from the lab. I continue, "Can you point out your husband, please?"

"That is Thomas. That is my husband," Sayda exclaims while pointing out a slightly chub man without facial hair.

"Are you sure?" Ziva asks her.

"Yes, I'm sure," Sayda exclaims.

"Give me the address, McGee," Gibbs orders him as he walks behind his desk.

"I want to come with you. I want to see him. Please," Sayda begs of him.

"No," Gibbs answers her while pocketing his badge.

"Please," Sayda begs making gibs turn around to see Ziva and me standing behind him. He looks annoyed as he turns back around and signals for Sayda to follow him making me smile, he does have a heart… for someone other than Abby and me.

…

"Yamaha's on the side. Engine's still hot," Ziva informs us while running down from beside the house. We are all wearing out NCIS wind breakers.

"McGee, Alice, you're out front. DiNozzo, you're with us," Gibbs orders while Tony, Ziva and him run back down the side of the house and McGee and I wait out front. After a moment we hear a gun shot, followed by more making us ready our guns while running down the side of the house. By the time we arrive the shooting is over.

"You're a hard man to find," Gibbs says to Thomas.

"Perhaps… not heard enough," Thomas comments making me smile. He continues, "My wife."

"She misses you very much," I inform him making him look at me in surprise as I put my gun away. Everyone begins to move, McGee calls an ambulance, and Ziva calls for Sayda.

The ambulance take the assassins while McGee, Ziva and Tony walk around front.

"Don't expect too much… you have been apart for a long time," I warn Thomas making him node at me. We begin to walk around the house to see Sayda.

"Thomas," Sayda exclaims while moving towards him.

"Sayda," Thomas exclaims while almost running towards her too and meeting her halfway with a big hug.

"I guess I was wrong," I comment softly to Gibbs making him chuckle at me.

"True love only grows with time and distance," Gibbs states making me smile… for once there is a happy ending. But the moment is ruined when the door to his house opens and there is another woman that steps out followed by a little girl. Sayda says something else to him before turning and walking to the car making him repeatedly call for her to return. He turns and walks up to the front door and picks the kid up before entering the house with the other woman.

"What were you saying about true love?" I ask Gibbs before turning and walking back towards the NCIS cars… she watched years for him only for him to marry again and have a child… I feel bad for Sayda, she didn't deserve that.


	18. Lost and Found

"In the land of forensic science technology, the mass spectrometer is king. It uses the basic magnetic force of a charged particle to measure the mass and relative concentration of atoms and molecules. Pretty cool, huh?" Abby asks a group of boy scouts that is standing in her lab as she stands in front of the mass-spec.

"Are those tattoos real?" one of the boys asks Abby making her look at her tattoos for a moment.

"Yes. Any other questions?" Abby answers uncomfortably.

"How many do you have?" the same boy asks her.

"A lot. That's all I'm gonna say about that," Abby answers him while putting her lab coat on.

"A lot? I only counted five."

"The rest of 'em are… hidden," Abby informs him.

"Hidden where?"

"They're…"

"Hi, guys," McGee says while walking into the lab with a box of little flags and wearing a boy scout uniform. Tony is never going to let him live this down.

"Hi," Abby greats him.

"What's I miss?"

"Nothing yet. Abby was just about to show us her," the same boy from before says.

"AFIS… program… right," Abby cuts him off while walking past the boy and reading his name tag, "Carson?"

"Right," the boy, Carson, agrees with her.

"So, if the mass spectrometer is the kind of the land, this little darling is definitely the queen," Abby informs the kids while showing the machine that take peoples prints.

"In the last four years, we've made two-hundred arrests thanks to AFIS fingerprint matches," McGee boosts.

"We?" Abby asks with a bit of laughter.

"It's a team effort," McGee exclaims.

"So this is an L scan. All you do," Abby explains while grabbing the finger of Carson and putting it on the glass to scan it while continuing, "is put your finger on the glass and… voila, you're in the system."

"Cool," Carson says while stepping back with a grin.

"As we speak, the program is filtering through a database filled with millions of prints," McGee explains while the fingerprint is ran on the plasma screen.

"The majority of them were recorded after somebody's arrest. So, assuming that you haven't served any hard time, I doubt we're gonna get a," Abby begins to say only for ironically a match to be found right as she is going to say match. The match says with flashing red lights,

 ** _CARSON MATTHEW_**

 ** _-ABDUCTED—_**

 ** _LAST SEEN 05/27/1998_**

Everyone turns and looks at Carson in surprise.

…

Carson is sitting in a conference room swinging back and forward in a chair as McGee looks through the door before turning and looking down the hallway as Abby rushes down.

"Where is Gibbs and Alice? It's been like twenty minutes" Abby demands of McGee.

"Abby, it's been like four minutes," McGee corrects her.

"In little kid time, that's like twenty minutes," Abby defends herself.

"They will be here any second," McGee comments.

"Look at him. He looks so scared," Abby says after looking into the conference room to see a sad looking Carson.

"Seems fine," McGee dismiss her.

"IF you're gonna be heartless, that's on you, McGee. I'm going in," Abby exclaims.

"To say what?" McGee asks her making her look confused when she doesn't have an answer making him add, "Exactly. Like I said, we need to wait for Gibbs and Alice."

"Who's Gibbs?" Carson asks them from the door.

"Agent Gibbs, he's our boss," Abby explains to him.

"And who's Alice?"

"His girlfriend," McGee answers him.

"His fiancé," Abby overlaps him making McGee spin to stare at Abby in surprise… since when was Gibbs and Alice engaged.

"What?"

"Am I in trouble?" Carson asks while getting the conversation back onto what is important to him.

"No, no, no, Carson. Not at all," McGee exclaim while attempting to hid his surprise at what Abby said… he didn't think Alice and Gibbs would be more engaged.

"What about the AMIS thing?"

"AFIS," Abby corrects him. McGee gives her a disapproving look making her says, "Sorry… you know what? I'm… I'm just gonna go back to work." McGee looks after her in confusion as she speed walks away again. McGee looks back at Carson who smiles from where he si hiding behind the door making McGee smile at him in return.

"Where are the other kids?" Carson asks McGee.

"The tour ended early," McGee answers him.

"How am I gonna get home?"

"We're gonna figure that out," McGee informs him.

"The computer said I was abducted," Carson says while McGee walks him back to the table and sits with him. Carson continues, "That's like kidnapped, right? Kidnapped, as in… stolen?"

"I'm sure there's some sort of explanation."

"There is. You guys messed up."

"Would be the first time," Gibbs says while walking into the conference room with Alice following him. Gibbs is wearing a dark jacket over a grey/green polo shirt with black pants. Alice is wearing a green shirt with black jeans and her jacket is in her arms.

"Jethro, that wasn't very nice," Alice says while smacking Gibbs arm with a grin at Carson.

"Hey, special agent Gibbs," Gibbs says while holding his hand out to Carson to shake.

"The boss," Carson says while shaking Gibbs hand making me laugh as Gibbs smiles.

"To some people," Gibbs says with a smile.

"Alice," Alice says to him while gently squeezing his shoulder as she walks around him and sits down.

"The fiancé?" Carson asks her making her blink in surprise.

"How did you work that out?" Alice asks him with her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Abby."

"Thought you might be thirsty," Gibbs comments while pulling a soft drink out of his pants pocket and throwing it and catching it before putting it on the table in front of Carson.

"I'm not supposed to drink soda after three o'clock," Carson informs Gibbs making him remove the drink and Carson pulls it back while saying, "Given the situation,. I think my mum would understand."

"Mums usually do," Gibbs agrees with him while leaning on the table towards Carson and everyone in the room follows suit.

"I wouldn't open it, he just shook it up," Alice says to Carson when he goes to open the drink but Carson opens it anyway and it doesn't go everywhere. (if that was me I would have soft drink all over me.)

"So," Carson begins before taking a sip of the drink, he than continues to ask, "You guys figure this thing out yet?"

"Working on it," Alice informs him.

"It's been a long day. I know you're looking to get out of here," Gibbs adds.

"You're right. Who's driving?" Carson asks him while putting the drink down and leaning towards Gibbs.

"No me," Alice exclaims while leaning away from Carson.

"Hold on. We're gonna talk first," Gibbs corrects him.

"Knew that's be too easy," Carson says while leaning away from Gibbs and back into his chair a bit. He asks them, "before we start, can I ask you guys a question?"

"Yeah, shoot," Alice says with a smile.

"Do I look like a missing kid? I mean, come on. I'm a youth ranger."

"He's got a good point," Gibbs agrees with him with a half-smile for a second while looking across at McGee.

"And I'm from franklin, which means I cant be missing, 'cause nothing cool ever happens there," Carson continues.

"That bad, huh?" Alice asks with a small chuckle.

"Worse. we only live there 'cause it's close to the woods. My dad goes most weekends," Carson informs them.

"Hunting or camping?" McGee asks him.

"Teaching," Carson corrects him before explaining, "HE shows people how to live without phones, lights, that kind of stuff. He's super tough like… Russell Crowe in 'gladiator.'"

"Sounds like a cool dad," Gibbs comments.

"Coolest. He's taught me pretty much everything he knows."

"That explains all the badges," Alice comments.

"Eighteen. Second most in my troop. Took me close to three years," Carson explains to him.

"I bet your dad's real proud of you," Gibbs comments softly.

"Yeah. My mom, too," Carson explains before looking sad. They all continue to stare at him until he asks, "Is it okay if I ask one more question?" Gibbs nodes making him add, "when can I go home?"

…

"This is exactly like 'the deep end of the ocean.' Michelle Pfeiffer movie. Infant son… kidnapped. Reunited with the mother ten years later. It's very 'lifetime,'" Tony rambles in the squad room as him and Ziva walks over to the plasma screen above Alice desk.

"'Lifetime?'" Ziva asks him in confusion.

"The cable network. Geared towards women… you'd hate it," Tony explains before turning and seeing Gibbs, Alice and McGee walking into the squad room and McGee is still wearing the boy scout uniform, making Tony exclaim, "Seriously probie, I don't make enough fun of you?"

"Knock it off, DiNozzo," Gibbs orders him as they all walk over to the plasma screen, McGee stopping beside Tony with Gibbs and Alice behind Tony and Ziva.

"All roads lead to the father, boss. Brian Matthews, native of DC, married his high school sweetheart, Lisa, at nineteen," Tony informs them while opening a photo of Brian's licence.

"Two months later, Carson was born," Ziva adds as Gibbs walks over to beside her with his hand on Alice back.

"Good old shotgun wedding," Tony comments while making shotgun sounds as Alice rolls her eyes at him.

"Six weeks after giving birth, Lisa drowned," Ziva reports.

"Death was ruled accidental. Brian Matthews took it bad, lost his job, started hanging with the wrong crowd," Tony reports

"The dead wife's mother sued him for full custody of Carson and won," Ziva continues the report.

"Explains why he took Carson and ran," McGee comments.

"Somebody just earned their detective badge," Tony teases McGee making Alice laugh softly.

"Can we talk to the grandmother?" Alice asks after a moment.

"No. Dead a year ago. Heart attack," Tony informs her.

"Brian Matthews became Brian Taylor, ended up living in franklin. He and Carson started a new life," Ziva reports while pulling up a photo of Brian's false license with the fake name on it.

"Remarried?" Gibbs asks her while placing his hand on Alice's back.

"Yes. Lieutenant Elaine Taylor. Works anti-fraud for naval procurement," Ziva informs them while pulling up the wife's naval information.

"Think she knows?" McGee asks them.

"Well, there's only one wat to find out," Alice comments while stepping between Tony and Ziva while walking over to her desk. Gibbs grabs his brown jacket while turning to McGee.

"McGee… loss the uniform," Gibbs orders while walking off with Alice.

"Where's the kid?" Tony asks McGee with a grin.

"Abby's got him," McGee answers him.

"Our Abby?" Ziva asks him in surprise.

"Allow with a minor?" Tony adds as McGee begins to remove the scarf of his outfit.

"He'll be fine," McGee says in denial about what Abby could do.

…

Abby shoots a gun into the gun testing barrow, emptying the magazine before turning and smiling at Carson who is watching her.

…

Alice pov

.

I knock on the door of Brian and lieutenant Elaine Taylor's house.

"Can I help you?" Elaine asks us while opening the door in a purple jacket.

"NCIS," Gibbs informs her while showing her his badge.

"Oh, my god, Carson? Wha…what happened?"

"Cason's fine. He's still in DC," I promise her calmly.

"I don't understand. What's this about?" Elaine demands of us while opening the door fully.

"Your husband," Gibbs answers her while putting his badge away.

"He's wanted for kidnapping," Ziva informs her making her look confused at her.

"Be better if we talk inside, lieutenant," I inform her while nodding inside making her node and let us into the house. Gibbs, McGee, and I follow her over to the couch while Ziva and Tony search Carson's room.

"This is all a big misunderstanding," Elaine informs us.

"I'd rather hear that from Brian," Gibbs informs her while leaning back in the big couch we are sitting in.

"You will, on Tuesday, when he gets back," Elaine informs us calmly.

"Gets back?" McGee asks her while I take notes on what is being said for the report.

"He's away, teaching a class."

"Where?" Gibbs demands of her as I note it down.

"Black ridge woods."

"Survival class. Carson mentioned them," I comment.

"OF course he did. He's very proud of his father."

"Is there any way to contact your husband?" McGee asks her.

"First rule of survivalism: no phones, no radios, so if you want to talk to Brian before Tuesday, you're gonna have to go find him," Elaine informs us making Gibbs smirk while I laugh… I think I know a marine that could do that.

"How much do you know about Brian's past?" I ask her.

"I know that he had it rough. He didn't know his dad and his mum died when he was sixteen," Elaine informs us.

"Carson's mother?" Gibbs asks her.

"You're looking at her," Elaine says to us cynically.

"Biological?" Gibbs corrects her.

"She drowned. That's all I know," Elaine informs us finally.

"Never been curios?" McGee asks her.

"Brian is a very private person."

"He's your husband," McGee says what we are all thinking… how can she not ask questions about his first wife's death. Hell I've asked question about Gibbs, well all, wives and we're not even married… yet.

"And I'm his wife, not his therapist, agent McGee," Elaine informs us snidely.

"How'd you two meet?" I ask her.

"I took his class… and hated it. I thought some time in the woods would do me good sleeping under the stars, relieve some stress," Elaine informs us.

"didn't work, huh?" Gibbs asks with a small chuckle.

"I got poison ivy. Everywhere. Brian rushed me home and a couple months later, I moved in with him and Carson. I want my son."

"Stepson," Gibbs corrects her.

"You never legally adopted him," McGee adds.

"SO?" Elaine demands of us snidely.

"So, legally, we can't release him to you."

"This is completely ridiculous. You can't do this," she informs us. She looks at all of us before demanding, "What have you done with him? Where is he?"

"He's at NCIS for, for now," I inform her calmly.

"Legal or no, he's my child. You can't possibly expect for me to let him stay with some stranger," Elaine informs us.

"That or social services. Choice, lieutenant," I informs her.

"I need to see him."

"Okay," Gibbs informs her making her look at him until he adds, "Soon." She gets up to pack a bag for Carson.

"You have kids, agent Gibbs?" she asks him while putting stuff in the bag. I put my hand on his leg, she has no right to ask him that…

"NO. I don't," Gibbs says after a moment making me rub his leg… Kelly might not be here anymore but she is still his baby and saying he doesn't have one, does hurt him.

…

"Twenty-four hours surveillance on the house. If she makes a phone call, McGee, I want to know about it," Gibbs orders as we walk out of the house.

"What about Carson?" Ziva asks him as I hitch the back higher up on my shoulder.

"Hands are tied, Ziva," Gibbs states making me take his arm… if she wasn't such a bitch, he wouldn't be making it this hard for her.

"Untie them. You can't just keep him from his mother."

"Not his mother," Tony comments as we arrive at the car.

"She raised him," Ziva defends her.

"You want a family reunion, Ziva? Prove she wasn't involved," Gibbs orders her before getting in the car angrily.

"Ziva, you'll have better luck getting the truth from Ari then getting him to go easy on that… that… thing," I inform her before getting in the back of the car.

…

Gibbs and I walk into the director's office to see her quickly shutting a newspaper.

"I need a signature," I inform her while placing the file onto her desk as she quickly removes her glasses.

"For?" she demands of us.

"Carson Taylor. Turning him over to social service," I state.

"What about his stepmother?"

"No, not his legal guardian, and why too many unanswered questions," Gibbs informs her but she continues to look at us in confusion.

"Problem?" I demands of her.

"No, I… I'm just surprised that you're not trying to talk me into letting him stay with someone from here," she admits to us.

"Not an option. We're not babysitters," Gibbs informs her.

"So you're turning him over to child welfare?" Shepard asks him.

"NO. You are," I correct her while Gibbs walks around the table.

"Soon as you sign it," Gibbs adds while handing her a pen.

"It's late on Friday night. I mean, who's still hanging around in social services?" Shepard demands of us.

"Have you got a better idea?" Gibbs demands of her while leaning onto the table.

"He can stay with me," Shepard offers making me blink in surprise… she is volunteering, she never does anything useful. This is so out of the normal for her.

"Are you sure?" I ask her in surprise.

"No. but given my options, it's the decision I'm making," Shepard informs us.

"Oaky, you should meet your new houseguest," Gibbs informs her while getting up and walking around to where I am waiting for him as I walk over to the door with him.

"Guarantee he's better than the last," Shepard comments while getting up too and opening the file. She suddenly says, "Jethro… this is a case report. Not a custody transfer."

"Must've grabbed the wrong folder," I comment before walking out the door with him.

"You owe me fifty dollars," Gibbs informs me with a grin.

"I can't belief that works… since when does she have a heart?" I ask him in confusion.

"Go figure," Shepard calls after us before begins to walk with us to of see Carson. We walk along the cat wall to see everyone playing a video game with Carson. Shepard comments, "Looks like we missed the party."

"At his age, the party never ends," Gibbs comments while placing his hand on my lower back.

"Could be a long night," Shepard comments as Abby gets off the elevator and meets us at the stair to go down to the squad room.

"Not just for you, director. I lifted Brian Taylor's prints off his computer and his files. AFIS got another hit. They were all over a beretta used in an unsolved shooting in May of ninety-eight," Abby informs us.

"The same month Brian and Carson disappeared."

"He's not running because he kidnaped Carson. He's running because he's wanted for murder," Abby informs us.

…

No one pov

.

"Black ridge woods are closed off," Tony reports hanging up his phone.

"DC metro's cold case files are already en route," Ziva adds.

"En route?"

"Offered to hand deliver."

"And you agreed? That's one of the oldest tricks in the book, the hand delivery, Ziva. It's metro's way of making sure they stay involved in the case."

"You think?"

"Why else would they personally deliver the files?"

"To see your pretty face, DiNozzo," a DC metro cop states while carrying boxes towards the squad room. Making both men fake laugh before the cop push Tony's stuff over to put the box down. He continues, "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough, Collins," Tony says while shaking 'Collins' hand.

"Old friends?" Ziva asks them.

"Detective Collins is on metro's cold case squad. He and I worked a couple homicides back when I was on Baltimore P.D," Tony reports to her.

"And, unfortunately, we're oh-for-two," Collins adds.

"Third time's the charm. Catch a break and we'll have this case closed by Monday," the woman detective comment.

"'We?'" Ziva repeats in surprise.

"Danielle Hamilton," the lady detective interduces herself to Ziva happily. Before continuing to say, "I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Hey, DiNozzo, think you could rustle up some coffee?" Collins request of Tony while placing stacks of folders onto Gibbs desk.

"Sure thing," Tony comments while walking away.

"This is not my fault," Ziva hisses at Tony.

"Tell that to Gibbs," Tony hisses back at her.

"Here's the other one," Danielle says to Collins while handing him some files to put onto Gibbs desk.

…

"Maybe you could turn it off now!" Abby informs Carson who is playing in the car with the sirens on so that you almost can't hear her as she holds her head in pain from the loud noise.

"What?" Carson yells back at her.

"I said maybe you could turn off the siren now!"

"Huh?" he yells at her.

"You need to turn off," Abby yells as he turns the siren off but she doesn't not so she yells, "the damn siren!" everyone in the garage turn and look at her. Carson begins to look at her surprised face. She asks him, "You think that's funny?"

"Very. Where to next?" Carson asks her.

"Let's see," Abby thinks while getting out of the van. She informs her, "You've seen autopsy, and you've seen my lab… you've seen everything."

"Not… everything," Carson says slowly.

"Forget about the tattoos, okay? It's not happening," Abby orders him while walking over to the elevator and scanning her eye to open it.

"Come on, not even a little peek?" he begs of her.

"Hey, big man," Gibbs says as the elevator opens and he sees Carson and Abby. He points to Carson's chest while asking, "What's that?" Carson look at Gibbs finger who then removes it and takes off Carson NCIS hat that si on backwards and put it on properly.

"Come to take me home, agent Gibbs?" Carson asks happily while turning his hat back around. Gibbs doesn't answer him but just continue to stare at him making him add, "I'm not going home, am I?"

"Not tonight," Alice informs him as she kneels in front of the boy.

"I want my mum," Carson says. He correctly corrects himself, "I mean… she must be worried."

"She misses you," Gibbs says after Alice and he exchange a look.

"It's Friday night," he comments randomly. When everyone looks confused, he continues to explain, "Friday night. We make double-fudge S'Mores and watch scary movie."

"It sounds nice," Abby comments.

"Here. You want to call her? make sure she's doing okay," Alice comments while handing him her cell phone.

"She'd like that," Carson comments while taking the phone and dialling his mum's phone number. She answers the phone and he says, "Hi, mum. It's me… yeah, I'm okay. Are you okay? Miss you. I love you too. Hey, have you started the S'Mores yet? Make sure to save some for me."

…

Alice pov

.

"May second of ninety-eight, two assailants enter the Stop n Go mart, out witnesses describe them both as Caucasian, about six foot, a buck seventy," Danielle reports with the old security footage of the robbery on my plasma screen. We are all standing around the screen while McGee works on his computer looking for something.

"Description matches Brian Taylor," Collins adds.

"Matches a lot of people," I correct him.

"Including you, Collins. Give or take five pounds, maybe ten," Tony adds.

"Clerk hands over the cash without any argument or struggle," Collins informs us without commenting on Tony's comment.

"But that wasn't enough," Ziva comments as they play the video where the people shoot the clerk.

"Dead before he hit the floor."

"Motive?" Ziva asks him.

"Thrill, officer David. We believe we're dealing with two cold-blooded killers," Danielle informs us.

"We've been over this case a thousand times, it's textbook," Collins informs us.

"You haven't solved it," Gibbs states making me smirk, he's not happy.

"Some cases take time," Collins defends himself.

"Nine years?" I ask him.

"We've been looking for a lead. And no we've found it."

"No… we found it… you didn't find shit," I correct him.

"We have boxes of DNA evidence from the scene. We'll find a match," Danielle defends her case, or lack thereof.

"All we need is Brian Taylor," Collins adds.

"Good luck finding him, he's teaching a class in black ridge," Tony informs them.

"Okay, we send out a search party," Danielle states like we are idiots.

"If he hears us coming, his students become hostages."

"So we just wait?" Collins asks us.

"Yeah, you never were very good at that, were you, Collins?" Tony comments sarcastically before asking, "You still have the highest arrest rate in your precinct?"

"Yeah," Collins answers him.

"Still bucking for that captain's job?"

"One day."

"Found something," McGee reports to us. He explains to us, "Filtered through Brian Taylor's electronic maps. He keeps a log of all of his locations: training exercises, rest areas, and most importantly…"

"His base camp," Ziva finishes for him.

"Seven miles from highway nine," McGee informs us while us while putting the map up that is titled base camp.

"If we leave now, we can be there by morning," Tony reports.

"Take Ziva," Gibbs orders him while we all back to our desk.

"We'll follow," Collins says.

"No, I don't think so, detective," Gibbs stops him.

"Here to help, agent Gibbs," Collins says while holding his hands up in an innocently defenceless way.

"Good. Let's go over all that evidence you have," I state while turning on my computer.

"And then? Collins demands of us.

"And then… you can help… when I ask," Gibbs informs him before his phone begins to ring, "Yeah, Gibbs… Hey, Carson, you okay? We'll be right there."

"What's going on Jethro?" I ask him.

"Carson want to talk," Gibbs informs me before signalling for me to follow him.

…

"Surprised it took you so long," Shepard comments when she opens the door and sees us standing there. We step into the entry way of her house as she continue to talk, "To check up on me." Gibbs just give her a look making her check her pockets while saying, "Except that's not why you're here, is it? Which explains where my cell phone went."

"Kids," Gibbs comments while walking into her house and following the music.

"Jazz?" I ask in surprise, she better not being torturing this kid.

"His favourite," Shepard defends herself as we walk into lounge room to see Carson reading a swimsuit book and listening to music.

"Bitch was right," I comment making Shepard look at me.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs finishes.

"You get lost, agent Gibbs?" Carson asks us making him grunt at him. He continues to talk, "I called almost an hour ago."

"Well, we're here now," I say while kneeling down at his height. I ask him softly, "You want to tell us why?"

"Do you get mad easily?" Carson asks Gibbs.

"Depends on who you ask," Gibbs admits.

"I lied… about my dad. I just wanted you to come over," Carson admits while moving around on the chair nervously.

"Why?" Gibbs asks him without getting angrily.

"To talk."

"Okay," Gibbs says while removing his jacket and throwing it over the chair before sitting down across from Carson. I move back so I am sitting on the floor leaning against Gibbs chair.

"Want me to start?" Carson asks.

"You're the one with the questions," Gibbs reminds him while raising his hands.

"Good point," Carson comments before asking us, "Why can't I go home?"

"Because we need time to do our job," I inform him.

"You mean to find my dad?" Carson asks making Gibbs node in agreement with him. He continues to asks, "You think he did something wrong?"

"Not sure yet."

"My dad never breaks the rules. Ever. This is all my fault. Me and my stupid field trip," Carson exclaims while blaming himself.

"Carson," Gibbs cuts him off while leaning closure to the boy. He continues, "This is not your fault."

"It was my fingerprint. What are you going to do when you find him?"

"Talk," Gibbs admits.

"He'll tell you the truth, agent Gibbs. He says telling the truth is his number one rule."

"Well, that sounds like my kind of guy," I state.

"Mine, too," Carson informs us. After a moment he says, "Time for letterman."

"Mm-mm. time for bed," Gibbs corrects him.

"But I'm not even tired," Carson complains as Gibbs gets up and grabs his jacket before offering his hand to me to help me up off the ground. Carson looks at Gibbs before asking, "Can I finish my hot chocolate first?"

"Sure," Gibbs agrees with him before leaving the room to see Shepard leaning on the door watching us like a pervert.

"I forgot," Shepard whispers to Gibbs.

"What?" Gibbs asks her in confusion. That is a half a thought she is saying.

"How good you are with kids," Shepard informs him making Gibbs laugh before she adds, "You think he knows more than he's letting on?"

"Think he's worried about his dad, that's why he doesn't want to go to sleep," I comment.

"Guess he's not worried anymore," Shepard informs us making me turn around to see Carson sleeping in the chair. Gibbs laughs before walking over to Carson and picking up the boy. He carries the boy upstairs into one of Shepard's bedroom where he lays him down and tucks him into bed. We begin to walk down the stair only for Shepard to look back up the stairs to the room.

"He'll be fine," Gibbs reminds her.

"It's been a long time. Us. Together outside of the office," Shepard says to Gibbs as we arrive at the bottom of the stairs and he picks up his jacket.

"Paris. If you don't count hospitals and car chases," Gibbs admits while placing his hand on my lower back.

"I don't," Shepard admits. She continues, "Yeah, once upon a time, I would have asked you to stay. And I wouldn't have taken no for an answer."

"That sounds like rape," I comment in disgusted. Don't we stop them, not be them.

"No," Gibbs overlaps me.

"What happened, Jethro?" Shepard demands of him while giving me a dirty look for my comment.

"You made a choice," Gibbs reminds her.

"I had to do what was best for me. I still do," Shepard informs him making him half smile before opening the door and we leave her house.

…

"Agent Gibbs. Where's Carson?" Elaine asks Gibbs we walk into the integration room where she is sitting in the navy uniform. She continues, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Gibbs states while sitting down at the integration table.

"You're not," I add as I sit beside Gibbs and McGee pulls out a page from his file and puts it in front of her.

"Look familiar, lieutenant?" Gibbs asks her about what McGee found on Brian's computer.

"It's a background check you ran on your husband two years ago. These are e-mails you sent to a private investigator asking him to look into your husband's past," McGee informs her while placing more papers in front of her.

"Said you trusted him," I remind her of the lie she told.

"I was trying to protect him," Elaine informs us.

"From what?" Gibbs demands of her.

"From whatever Brian did that made him run nine years ago."

"How long have you know?" I ask her.

"Since before we were married. I always asked questions about… his parents, Carson's mother, and he never gave a straight answer."

"Started researching," Gibbs comments.

"I found hundreds of Brian Taylors from the DC area."

"But you never found your husband?" McGee comments.

"No, I found him. In a picture of his high school tennis team," Elaine informs us making McGee put the photo on the table.

"That one?"

"I saw the caption said that his surname was Matthews, but… I never had any doubt. I knew it was him."

"And when you confronted him?" McGee asks her.

"She didn't," Gibbs comments.

"I was afraid of losing him. My husband ran for a reason, and I'm sure it was a damn good one," Elaine informs us.

"It was… murder," I inform her making her laugh at me in disbelief.

"Killed a store clerk," McGee adds.

"No, Brian could never hurt anyone," Elaine defends her lying husband.

"Brian Taylor or Brian Matthews?" Gibbs demands of her.

"They're the same person," Elaine snaps at him.

"People change, lieutenant," I inform her calmly.

"My husband is a good man, and an even better father," Elaine informs me before wiping tears from her eyes. He yells at us angrily, "He couches little league, he's in the PTA, and no matter where he is or what he's doing, he always calls his son to say good night."

"Always?" Gibbs and I ask her. That is not what she said earlier.

…

"Hey, where's your cell phone?" I demand of Shepard while storming into her office with Gibbs and McGee to see Shepard and Carson sitting on the ground and yelling excitedly.

"Excuse me?" Shepard demands of me.

"Give it to me. NOW," I yell at her while holding my hand out for the phone. When she takes too long I add, "Don't make me take it myself." Gibbs messes up Carson's hair while Shepard hands me her phone finally. I give it to McGee who looks through the call from last night as Gibbs looks over his shoulder.

"What are they doing?" Carson questions Shepard as I lean against the table next to Gibbs, there is no point to crowd McGee.

"Not sure," Shepard admits.

"Satellite phone number. Called last night, eleven-thirty," McGee reports to us.

"Can you locate it?" Gibbs asks her while pulling his phone out.

"If the phone's still on, I can triangulate it," McGee admits while Shepard gets up and walks over to us.

"Do it," Gibbs orders him.

"Want to share, agent Gibbs?" Shepard demands of Gibbs.

"Your phone bill is going to be huge this month," I inform her as Gibbs rings Tony.

"Hey, give me some good news… he got tipped off," Gibbs comments as we all look at Carson.

"Does this mean I'm going to jail?" Carson demands of us while Gibbs hangs the phone up.

…

"I've got to tell you, agent Gibbs, you're full of surprise," Carson comments in the conference room while eating ice cream that Gibbs got for him.

"That right?" Gibbs asks him while eating his own ice cream. They two boys are scary, they bite there ice cream while I am eating mine out of a bowl.

"Ice cream as punishment? There's no way I saw that coming," Carson admits.

"What makes you think you're being punished?" I ask him.

"I messed up," Carson admits.

"You did?" Gibbs asks him after swallowing another bite of ice cream.

"I called my dad. Told him you guys were looking for him," Carson reminds us what he did.

"You just told the truth," I remind him calmly while pointing my spoon at him.

"Yeah, but… but," Carson says.

"Um-mm. no buts. You were trying to protect your dad," Gibbs informs him.

"He said he's gonna be gone for a while. I told him all about you… said he'd like to meet you one day. I told him you were on our side. Everyone's been really great to me here. Agent Gibbs, Todd, between us… I'm ready for this to be over," Carson admits.

…

"The father's pursuit of solitude is indicative of a far deeper problem," Ducky informs Palmer as we walk into the squad room.

"Which would be?" Palmer asks in confusion.

"Trust," Gibbs informs him as we look at what they are looking at. Photos of Brian and Carson.

"Lack of it," I finish for him while stopping between Gibbs and ducky.

"The evidence is all here, Jethro," Ducky informs us while walking over to another autopsy table while saying, "Separate bank accounts from his wife. A date book that shows very little social interaction. And, of course."

"His job," Gibbs comments while removing the fliers from Ducky's hand.

"Survivalist training. It's a field which typically lures a very specific type of personality," Ducky informs us.

"Jethros," I answers.

"Loners," Gibbs overlaps me making me snort in laughter as he give me a look of disbelief that I would say that. I smirk at him while shrugging my shoulder, I'm just telling the truth.

"And that leads us to his diary. It shows that he has very few social engagements other than with his son. He had led a troubled life that is full of pain. And Mr Palmer, someone who's experienced this much pain often finds release in the form of rage," Ducky states while flicking through the diary that we have.

"Or murder," Gibbs adds as he throws the fliers onto the autopsy table as we leave autopsy. Once we are safely in the elevator Gibbs turns to me while asking, "Is that really what you think of me?"

"Your saying you would enjoy that job? If it was up to you, you wouldn't ever deal with people," I tease him while pulling on his jacket.

"Not all humans," Gibbs informs me before leaning down to kiss me softly. He steps away from me as the elevator dings and more people enter the elevator to ride it up.

…

"DiNozzo," Tony answers his phone as Gibbs, Shepard, McGee, and I stand in MTAC with a map of the wood they are in on the screen and two dots.

"Taylor's phone was just activated, Tony. We're tracking it now," Shepard informs him.

"Yeah, welcome to the club. I wish I could say it's a fun one," Tony says while sounding tired.

"You sound tired, DiNozzo," Gibbs comments making me smile.

"Following Ziva. Even the dogs are tired," Tony informs us making me laugh at him… I wouldn't want to follow her, she doesn't stop for anything.

"Tony, Taylor's heading right towards you. Keep your course," McGee reports to Tony.

"How far?" Tony demands of us.

"A hundred yards, give or take. Looks like he's passing through some sort of clearing. Maybe a…"

"Dirt road?" Tony asks him.

"Yeah. How'd you…?"

"Well, we're staring at it, McGee," Tony reports to him.

"Talk to us, Tony," I say to him as Gibbs walks over towards McGee.

"Got a visual," Tony says before hanging up the phone. We watch as the dots get closure together and we can do nothing but to hope that we don't have to bury another agent.

…

"Psst. Guys," Abby hisses as we step out of the elevator at the lab. We walk back over to her and she just look at us.

"Are you okay, Abby?" I ask her softly.

"Yeah. I'm with child," Abby informs her making me blink. She's pregnant? Whose the father? Why is she whispering that? Do I know the father? She continue to inform us, "the director asked me to watch Carson this morning, so I enlisted Palmer's help. Turns out… he's a pretty good babysitter."

"Why exactly are you standing by the elevator?" McGee demands of Abby how is watching Palmer and Carson play a game with a whiteboard that Palmer is drawing.

"For privacy. I don't want to you-know-who to hear. Someone," Abby defends herself while leading us away from the elevator and away from the lab. She continues to whisper inform us, "So, I hacked the Globalstar database, and I accessed the ball log from Brian Taylor's sat-phone."

"How?" McGee asks her in confusion and surprise.

"Was not easy. First, I exploited a weakness I found in the network's packet filter," Abby rambles.

"Abby," Gibbs buts her off.

"Abs, remember he can't work his phone, let alone understand what you are saying," I remind her while placing a hand on Gibbs chest making her grin at me.

"Sorry. Right. Anyway, so, Taylor… made one phone call. Ronald Keenan," Abby informs us while holding up a photo of a license of a hippy looking dude.

"That's good work," Gibbs says to her as we turn to leave.

…

We pull up out front of Ronald's house and get out of the car. We walk up the stairs to see the front door is open making us drawl our guns as Gibbs quickly runs past the door to the other side of the door. He pulls it open letting McGee enter the house first, followed by me and the finally Gibbs.

"I repeat, this is nine-one-one. please state your emergency. Officers have been dispatched to your location," a lady says over the bloody phone while Ronald is laying in the middle of the room.

Gibbs walks over to the man while holstering his gun. He kneels over the victim and checks this pulse only to see that he is dead with a knife in his chest.

…

I am photographing the crime scene while Ducky is checking the liver temp of Ronald.

"This young man never stood a fighting chance, because, unfortunately, or him," Ducky rambles like normal.

"He didn't fight," Palmer cuts Ducky off making us all looking at them. He continues, "Sorry doctor."

"No, you're right. Not the lack of defensive wounds on his forearms and hands," Ducky informs us while showing us the victims hands and arms that are not damaged at all.

"He knew his attacker," I comment.

"But judging by that hunting knife in his chest, I think we can presume that their relationship had soured somewhat," Ducky informs us as McGee enters the room.

"Boss, I spoke with the nine-one-one dispatch. Keenan didn't say a word," McGee reports to him.

"Yes, well, given the circumstances, even dialling the phone was quite a feat," Ducky comments.

"It's amazing what a person can do when their life depends on it," Palmer says as Gibbs leaves the room.

"Yeah, Gibbs… maple street. Any sign of Taylor?" Gibbs asks the person on the other side of the phone as we walk over to the car.

"Maple street, three blocks away," McGee informs him as Gibbs ends the phone.

"Yeah," Gibbs says while getting into the car.

…

"Ronald Keenan born and raised in the DC area," Danielle informs us with a photo of Ronald's license on the plasma screen above my desk.

"Also happened to be one of Brian Taylor's high school buddies," McGee adds from his desk.

"Metro interviewed him nine years ago. Said he didn't know why Taylor ran," Collins informs us.

"Maybe he didn't," McGee defends the victim.

"There's a reason he's dead," I state.

"Yeah, murder," Collins reminds us.

"He's five-ten, a hundred and eighty pounds. He matches our witnesses' description," Danielle informs us.

"I think we just found Taylor's accomplice," Collins says while jumping to conclusions.

"Or he could just be an innocent victim. There is no need to jump to conclusions… I don't know how you do it at metro but here at NCIS we use evidence to prove crimes," I snap at him as McGee's phone begins to ring.

"NCIS. Agent McGee," McGee answers his phone.

"Taylor knows we have the murder weapon. Last thing he need was his accomplice getting nervous and flipping," Collins informs us angrily.

"Agent Gibbs… sure, I'll just get him for you now," McGee says while standing up. He calls out, "Boss, Brian Taylor asking for you by name." I walk over to him with Gibbs who take the phone as he says, "Starting the trace." He begins to type at his computer before informing me, "Ready." I hit speaker phone while placing the phone onto the cradle so that everyone can hear what is being said.

"Special agent Gibbs," Gibbs says while watches over McGee's shoulder.

"How's my son, agent Gibbs?" Brian demands of me.

"Scared. Confused."

"That makes two of us."

"You want sympathy?"

"I want my life back."

"Which life, Brian Matthews or Brian Taylor's?"

"I ran because I didn't wanna lose my son. I was naïve. I was a twenty year old who made a lot of mistakes."

"Murder."

"I never killed anyone."

"Tell that to Keenan."

"Keenan was my friend."

"I'd hate to see your enemies."

"Carson says you're good. He says you're on our side."

"Yeah , well, he's a smart kid."

"Are you? You on our side, agent Gibbs?"

"Come in."

"I do that, my life's over."

"Not if you're innocent."

"It's not that simple. You've got this all wrong," Brian informs me before hanging up the phone.

"Did we get him?" I ask McGee softly.

"Pay phone, north end of rock creek park," McGee informs us. We all move to get our jackets and guns.

"Call DiNozzo," Gibbs orders him as we leave the squad room.

…

We all arrive at the park, including Tony and Ziva who I don't know when they got back from black ridge park, and the metro cold case detective.

"Pair up, spread out," Gibbs orders us as we get out of the car.

"We'll take east of the creek, the rest is yours," Tony informs Collins.

"On it," Collins says while turning and walking away from Tony. Gibbs and McGee pair up, Ziva and Tony pair up. Collins and Danielle pair up and I run after them, I don't know if I trust them yet, so I am going to keep my eye on them.

.

No one pov

.

"Yeah Gibbs," Gibbs answers his phone while walking through the park with McGee.

"Big news, Gibbs. The bloody fingerprints we found on Keenan's phone, they didn't belong to Keenan. They were Brian Taylor's," Abby informs him.

"Means Taylor called nine-one-one," Gibbs comments while ducking under a tree.

"I've been looking at the evidence from the stop 'n go, really sloppy police work."

"What have you got, Abby?" Gibbs demands of her because she could ramble for years if he doesn't get her to jump to the point.

"a strand of hair that has titanium dioxide."

"English, Abby."

"It's a synthetic gel, but it didn't hit stores until 2002, which is strange because…"

"The murder happened in ninety-eight. Someone tampered with the evidence," Gibbs cuts her off.

"According to the chain of evidence, there were only two officers that had access," Abby informs Gibbs making him lower the phone while looking around.,

"McGee, where's Alice?" Gibbs demands of his agent… she better be with Tony.

.

"You go that way," Collins orders Danielle.

"Got it," Danielle says while running off.

"We are meant to stay together. Splitting up is just going to get you killed," Alice snaps at Collins.

"You go that way," Collins while pointing towards another direction.

"No. I am staying with you… I will not have your death on my consciousness because you want to be a hero," I snap at him while following him closely.

.

"McGee. He wants us here," Gibbs informs McGee when he releases there is no more tracks to follow.

"Why?" McGee asks him in confusion.

"Payphone number?" Gibbs asks him making McGee pull his note book out with the number. Gibbs dials the number while looking around for Alice, where is she? "Hey, you were framed," Gibbs says into his phone when the payphone is answered.

"I guess Carson was right, you are on our side," Brian says to Gibbs.

"Stay where you are. I'll come to you," Gibbs orders him.

"No a chance. I'm coming to you, and only you," Brian corrects him. Gibbs hangs the phone up when the line goes dead before shaking his head and removing his bulletproof vest.

"What are you doing, boss?" McGee asks him.

"My job," Gibbs informs him.

.

Brian runs thought the park while jumping over trees and moving towards where Gibbs is but before he gets too far there is snap of a twig making him look up to see Collins alone in front of him.

"Don't move, Taylor," Collins orders him while aim his gun at the mans head. He then asks him, "You armed?" Brian nodes while going to remove the knife so he is safe but Collins says, "hold on to it. Less for me to explain."

"You killed Keenan," Brian accused Collins.

"Should have done it years ago. He was going to tell. From killer to cop. Funny how life works out," Collins admits to the murder.

"Why did you set me up?" Brian demands of him.

"I didn't. spur of the moment. Just needed a gun, that's all. Keenan said he knew a guy who had one. now I've got my own. Government-issued," Brian admits.

"So is mine," Gibbs says while aiming his gun at Collins not Brian as he steps out from behind the trees behind Brian.

"And mine," Alice says while stepping out from the trees behind Collins and aiming her gun at Collins. She continues, "How fast are you Collins? How many people can you kill before you die?"

"Put it down," Gibbs orders him as Ziva and McGee appears from beside Gibbs. Tony comes over to besides Alice as they all aim at him and not Brian.

"He's got a knife, agent Gibbs. I was just protecting myself," Collins attempts to defend himself as Tony takes his gun.

"So was I," Brian says while opening his hunting jack to show Gibbs NCIS vest. McGee walks over to Brian and pulls out a recording device and plays it. And it plays Collins saying, 'I should have done it years ago. He was going to tell.' Making them all smirk at him because they court a killer and someone who is willing to let an innocent man go down for a crime he never commented.

"You set me up?" Collins demands of Brian as Tony handcuffs him and Alice walks over to Gibbs.

"Yeah. Kind of ironic! Huh," Brian comments.

"Looks like we're one for three, Collins," Tony comments while dragging him away.

…

Alice pov

.

"McGee a word," I ask him as I step off of the elevator with the team.

"Okay," McGee says while looking at me in confusion.

"Privately," I add before leading him over behind the stairs as everyone returns to the squad room.

"What is this about?" McGee asks me in confusion.

"You know what this is about."

"No I don't."

"Abby told you."

"That you and Gibbs are engaged?"

"Yes… don't tell anyone."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want Shepard to find out… and if Tony finds out, he will tell everyone," I inform him.

"But you are engaged to Gibbs?"

"Yeah."

"When?" McGee asks me in confusion.

"Few months ago… please don't tell anyone until I'm ready," I beg him.

"I'll keep my mouth shut… but congratulations," McGee says to me.

"Thank you," I say with a smile small.

…

"Okay. One more answer correct, and… I win my title back," Tony boost while doing a movie quiz on Gibbs time.

"From a ten-year-old," McGee reminds him.

"Who has just been through hell," Ziva adds.

"You mess with the bull.. you get the horns," Tony informs us while placing his fingers on each side of his head like they are horns. He adds, "NO exceptions."

"Wanna hope Jethro doesn't catch you doing that," I comment while looking at him.

"All right. 'in the 1985 film back to the future, this device makes time travel possible.' Come on, baby, I'm back," Tony says before punching his desk a couple of time before says and typing, "What is the flux capacitor?" Tony looses the game making him loose his mind again while exclaiming, "Wait, what happened?"

"You spelled 'capacitor' wrong," Carson informs him making us all laugh at him. Carson walks around to face Tony before adding, "Touch break."

"I bow to the champion," Tony says while bowing to him.

"Handshake will do," Carson says before shaking Tony's hand which quickly turns into a secret handshake thing. Gibbs steps out of the elevator with Brian and Elaine making Carson run to his father for a hug.

"I'm really gonna miss him," Abby complains.

"There's something about that kid," Tony agrees with him as I get up and walk over to Gibbs who place his arm around me as the family leave NCIS.

…

"Jethro, what are you doing?" I ask Gibbs as I walk out back to see him sitting on the back stairs.

"Thinking," Gibbs answers me while tapping the seat beside him for me to sit down.

"About?" I ask him while I sit down nest to him and lean my head onto his arm.

"Life," Gibbs answers me.

"Life in general? Or like a specific life?"

"How life turns out. If Carson's grandmother didn't report him missing when she won custody, and he didn't join the boy scouts and McGee didn't bring him to the lab and Abby picked a different kid… we might never have caught Collins… life," Gibbs informs me while wrapping his arm around me.

"I don't think that's life," I inform him before adding, "That's fate."

"Either way… what are the chances?"

"Same chances as us getting together.

"True," Gibbs hums while kissing the top of my head while watching the stares.


End file.
